


Why Don't We Just Dance?

by DemonRider404



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blasphemy, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Language, Recreational Drug Use, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Romance, Smut, it's pot, pot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-16 02:08:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonRider404/pseuds/DemonRider404
Summary: Small Town/Preacher’s Son AU. Maka Albarn is a fresh high school graduate, ready to leave the confines of this backwater Podunk town and make something of herself. Nothing can stop her now. Enter Soul Evans, the unmotivated, heathen son of the preacher; a perfect cliché. It’s been a few years since he dropped out, and Maka is surprised to find herself…attracted to him. She tries to talk herself out of it, but eventually gives in to a secret summer fling. But flings never end well, especially in a town like this. Could this brief escape into his arms end up being more trouble than it’s worth? Written for Resbang 2018!





	1. Afterparty

The room was filled with chatter, smiles, and the palpable weight of high-achieving families’ hopes. Brand new high school graduates milled excitedly through the crowd, accepting gifts and congratulations from whoever offered them. The scent of fresh coffee and home-baked cookies and casseroles floated through the air, eliciting grumbles from dozens of stomachs. New graduate Maka Albarn stood quietly against a back wall; from behind her, a hymn drifted off of the sanctuary’s grand piano and wove through the buzz of conversation.

Ah, yes. The quintessential graduation afterparty. Held in a church. Complete with a sermon. Small-town dynamics at their finest, Maka thought. She had never been much for the way religion gripped this place; it seemed like the church ruled here more than the city council.

She reminded herself she said she wouldn’t let such little things bother her today. Today was a huge day for her. She carried her diploma against her chest both proudly and protectively, her purple and gold ticket out of this place. The applications were already done, the letters sent in, and in just three months, she’d be gone, going to college in the city. She was going to get away from here once and for all and make something of herself, and this was the first step.

Comforted by this thought, Maka scanned the room looking for her best friend. It didn’t take long to spot her, given her height and her complicated raven-colored hairdo. Tsubaki stood mingling with some other students by a smaller piano. Maka approached, ignoring the small children banging away at the already-abused keys.

“Oh, hey, Maka!” Tsubaki said. Maka gave her a small smile. She wasn’t close with the kids her friend was talking to, but as it was a small school, she knew them anyhow and spoke with them almost as easily.

“Hey,” she said. “Thought I’d come see if anything interesting is going on here; conversation is getting a little boring everywhere else,” she said with a chuckle.

“We’re just talking about where we’re all going from here,” Tsubaki told her. “You excited to finally get out of this town, Maka?”

“Well, she  _ has _ been talking about it all year,” laughed a girl with bottle blonde hair and very crooked teeth. Turning to Maka, she asked, “So, what are you gonna study? Prob’ly gonna go work for NASA or something, right?”

Maka chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. “Ehh, I don’t know about that. I doubt NASA would have any use for a Comparative Literature major.”

Tsubaki shook her head. Before anyone could ask Maka what exactly she  _ was _ planning to do with a Comparative Literature major, a second girl piped up.

“Isn’t it crazy though? Like, it feels like we just started high school a week ago, and now we’re all  _ adults _ .”

A fleshy  _ thunk _ , followed closely by roaring laughter, came from the hallway. They all peeked around the wall to see Black Star, somehow landed heels over head at the bottom of a staircase, surrounded by his gang of very amused buffoons.

 Maybe not  _ all _ of us,” Maka groaned. “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life wondering how he graduated.”

“I don’t think the teachers wanted to deal with him anymore,” said the girl with the bottle blonde hair, eliciting a laugh from the rest of the group.

An instrumental hymn played loudly from the sanctuary, signaling that it was time for the sermon. Maka groaned internally, but reminded herself again that today was a good day. It was the best day of her life thus far, and she could sit through an hour of Pastor Evans praising God for her and her peers’ success. Right?

Well, either way, it would look strange if she were to just sit this part out, so she followed Tsubaki closely into the sanctuary. They took seats only a few rows from the front in the middle aisle. Maka looked around the room, anxiously searching for something to focus on. The room was brightly lit despite only having two artificial lights hanging from the vaulted ceiling; she attributed this to the small stained glass windows that dotted the walls. The only other notable objects in the room were the grand piano off to the side, the preacher’s podium, and the altar, already set with two burning candles and a wooden cross. As if it wasn’t obvious enough what this building was, the back wall was adorned with a massive painting of Jesus.

She smoothed out her dress nervously, trying to ignore the worn spots in the navy-blue fabric. She didn’t make a habit of thinking negatively about herself, but the number of girls wearing perfectly tailored dresses and two-hundred-dollar shoes was enough to put a dent in anyone’s self-confidence.

The remaining murmurs in the room died down as the beloved pastor stepped up to his podium. She gripped the diploma in her lap and took a deep breath, reminding herself once more that negativity would not be tolerated today. She bowed her head as the pastor began with the invocation; it felt odd, creepy even, but out of respect for her friends and the people who regularly attended this kind of thing, she went along with the motions.

‘Amens’ said, Pastor Evans smiled and held his arms open to the crowd. “It’s so wonderful to see you all here on a Saturday,” he began, to the quiet laughter of a few. He stepped away from the podium, continuing his speech with broad gestures. “But what’s even more wonderful is  _ why _ we are all here on a Saturday. If you look around you, you’ll see several of the brilliant young men and women who’ve completed one of the most important chapters of their lives. We are here today, gathered under God, to celebrate the success of these twenty-nine young adults…”

Maka tuned out about this point, flipping quietly through the hymnal nested into the back of the next pew. The musical notes, the numbers, it was all Greek to her, but it was a book nonetheless. If nothing else, the pages, thin, delicate, almost like tissue paper, gave her a welcome sensory distraction.

She glanced up from the book, trying to at least appear to be paying attention. As she followed Pastor Evans’s radical movements and gestures, something else caught her eye. In the very front row to her right, someone was slouched down. He would have stood out in this room just by the way he seemed to take no interest in the pastor’s speech, but what truly set him apart, at least to her eyes, was the color of his hair--or lack thereof. She could just make out a  _ very _ bored face underneath the untamed mane of white.

Before she had more time to stare wonderingly at the stranger, Tsubaki nudged her to bring her attention back to the sermon. The pastor was standing at the podium again, flipping through some pages in a binder. Maka turned to Tsubaki and kept her voice low.

“What is it?”

“Recognizing the high achievers,” Tsubaki whispered back. “That means you.”

Thanks to her surname, Maka was usually first on any alphabetical list. She had just enough time for this thought to go through her head before her name was called. She looked up at the pastor, then quickly back to Tsubaki for guidance. Tsubaki gestured for her to stand at the front. Maka felt her heart jump into her throat, but she didn’t have time to argue.

Slowly, she stood up, feeling over fifty pairs of eyes on her as she smoothed out her dress and walked to the front of the sanctuary. Pastor Evans smiled at her as she made her way up the aisle; it did not comfort her. When she’d passed the first row of pews, she turned to face the congregation. Her pride made her keep her head up, but her anxiety kept her eyes flickering around the room, trying not to look at anyone in particular.

As student after student was called up, Maka found that the spot of white in the front row caught her eye again. She glanced to the left quickly, just to see if she could get a better look at this fellow uncomfortable person. She couldn’t catch many details, but she did notice worn out jeans, a leather jacket, and an expression of sudden interest...and…

Wait...was he looking…

Maka looked away and toward Tsubaki, who gave her a small, encouraging smile. It didn’t take long for this nerve-wracking event to be done with--she supposed there couldn’t be much room in the top 10% when there were less than 30 people--and she as soon as she was allowed, she made a beeline for her seat.

Pastor Evans started on his regular sermon, but Maka’s mind was already elsewhere. She held her diploma open in her lap, examining the gold embossed lettering and fancy calligraphy as if she hadn't memorized it already. Every so often, she’d glance upward, curiosity dragging her eyes to the white-haired boy up front. She almost thought she was seeing things, but on several such occasions, she swore she found him staring back at her.

“Alright, if you could all please stand for a few very special songs.”

The sanctuary filled suddenly with the sounds of rustling fabric, turning pages, and creaking wood as everyone stood up. Maka looked around and saw a good majority of the churchgoers held the same hymnal she’d been fidgeting with. Rather than try to pretend she had any idea what was going on, she handed hers off to Tsubaki.

Maka rocked on the balls of her feet as the congregation broke into slightly discordant song; she didn’t attempt to sing, but instead watched with a mixture of fascination and deep uneasiness. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to any church, aside from possibly a school event once or twice, and quite frankly, the entire thing gave her a very cultish vibe.

She wasn’t sure what possessed her to look back over to her right again, but she did. There was no mistaking it this time--the disinterested punk kid was looking directly at her. He turned away as soon as she met his eyes. She might have passed it off as him staring at something behind her, but only a second or two later, she saw him slowly starting to turn his head back her way.

Her stomach tied itself into several tiny knots; now that she’d gotten a good look at him, she could say for certain that he was...well, to say “out of her league” would be putting herself down. Either way, he was certainly not the type of guy she’d usually find taking an interest in her. Through the next two hymns, she counted three more times she definitively caught him staring in her direction. It took her a moment longer to realize how often that meant she’d been staring at  _ him _ , though.

Pastor Evans grinned from the front of the room as everyone sat down. “Beautiful,” he said, “Just beautiful. Well, I believe I’ve kept you all here long enough. Thank you all so much for coming and worshipping with us on this beautiful Saturday. And let me offer a final congratulations to the class of twenty-eighteen. Remember, you’re not out of the woods just yet,” he chuckled, “but the pieces of paper you hold in your hands, as well as the grace of God, will help to guide you.”

And out of the woods she would be, she thought, if she could just survive here for a few more months.

The pianist began playing a parting melody, and Maka and Tsubaki filed out with the rest of the congregation, Maka glancing backward once last time. With all the bodies suddenly in the way, though, she couldn’t find the mysterious boy with a quick look. She pulled her eyes away from the crowd and followed Tsubaki to the tables where the food had been set up.

Here was one good thing about small-town living: they did take their cooking seriously. Cobblers, casseroles, pasta, cookies, fruit salad, pitchers of water and iced tea--the sheer amount of food almost made this mostly bare little foyer resemble a fancy banquet hall. Maka allowed a smile to appear on her face as the room started to buzz with conversation again, and followed her friend to a table to indulge in some southern cooking.

After several minutes of silence filled with satisfying food, Maka glanced over toward a back wall, where she met a familiar set of eyes. Her heart nearly stopped when she realized the boy from the front row was eyeing her once again. She looked away, took a breath, and leaned toward her friend.

“Hey Tsubaki,” she said in a low voice, “this, um, might be a weird question, but...there was a guy sitting up front, crazy hair, black jacket. Kinda looks like a punk…” she trailed off, waiting to see if Tsubaki recognized the description; Tsubaki responded by raising an eyebrow and nodding slowly. Maka continued, “Do, um...do you know who he is?”

Tsubaki blinked several times. “Yeeessss? Maka…” Tsubaki gave her a quick once-over. “Why?”

Maka shrugged, unsure what her friend seemed so concerned about. “I don’t know; I mean, I think he was looking at me, and he’s kind of...cute?” The phrase felt so alien to her. Not that she hadn’t had crushes before, albeit often short-lived ones, but she had an innate disdain for girls who constantly fawned over the opposite sex. Just using the word ‘cute’ in this context made her feel strangely disgusted.

Tsubaki was now looking at her best friend as if she’d grown another head. “Maka.” When Maka remained oblivious, she said, “That’s Soul. Soul Evans?”

The name brought back a flood of vague memories and whispered rumors from years ago. A young, strange-looking boy, sleeping in classroom corners and smoking in empty bathrooms, causing general mayhem around the school...supposedly. The preacher’s youngest son had mysteriously stopped attending school some time around Maka’s freshman year, and, in the classic small-town style, people talked. Some said he had simply dropped out, others said he was expelled. Someone claimed he’d offered them cigarettes in the bathroom one day. Not wanting to waste an opportunity to create drama, another said they saw him drinking vodka from a water bottle during a test.

Even now, the rumors continued, though Maka had never paid any attention to them if she could help it. Word was, now he was a notorious partier, a full-blown alcoholic, pothead, pill addict, sex machine...not all of those at once, surely, but regardless, he was bad news.

Her head swung around in disbelief; Soul was still looking in her direction, and one corner of his mouth turned up in a lazy smile when she caught his eye. She felt a blush creeping up to her cheeks and turned back to Tsubaki.

“Shut up.”

Tsubaki raised her eyebrows, but before she could say anything she was called away by someone. Tsubaki excused herself for the moment, and Maka nodded, standing to clear her spot on the table...and her head. She caught a glimpse of the clock on her way to the kitchen trash can--it was well into the afternoon at this point, and she got a nagging feeling she would need to leave soon.

Her perpetually drunken father, of course, hadn’t made it to the actual graduation ceremony, but he’d been blubbering the previous night about how “his precious little girl was all grown up” and that he “wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Children of other addicts might have seen it as a sign of repentance, an opportunity to try to make things right, but Maka knew better. If he showed up here, he’d still be drunk, and would either fly into a burning rage over nothing or bawl his eyes out incessantly. Either way, it would be embarrassing, and she didn’t want to be here for it.

She weaved through the crowd of people, looking for a mostly clear spot to stand and wait for Tsubaki. She didn’t want to be here if Spirit did decide to show up, but she didn’t want to go home in case he’d suddenly changed his mind about trying. Thankfully, Tsubaki’s father was much more sane, and Maka had found a second home with them.

Maka found an empty wall and stood watching the milling throng of townspeople across the room. She ran her thumb across the fake leather of her diploma for comfort as she waited. Something moved in her peripheral vision; thinking it may be her dad, she looked quickly to her other side, and then felt her chest tighten up with a whole new kind of anxiety.

Soul approached her with an easy stride, hands in the pockets of his jacket. He gave her a lazy half-smile, and she hated that it made her heart flutter. Ah hell, this could not be happening. Had he noticed her staring? Was he coming to ask her why? Tell her to stop? What could he possibly have to say to her?

“Hey. Um...Maka, right?”

Part of her was secretly glad he’d started the conversation, since she had absolutely no idea what to say when he stopped in front of her. He was taller than she expected. She couldn’t bring herself to look directly into his eyes, instead choosing to study the hot mess that was his hair as she gave him a jerky nod.

“Well, I, uh, hope this isn’t too weird, but I saw you back there and you looked...kinda bored,” he chuckled. “So, uh, do you know where that old grain...tower...thing…”

“Silo?” she offered quietly. He rubbed the back of his neck, the first sign of nervousness that she’d seen him exhibit.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “The one outside town, right outside the woods? You know where it is?”

She nodded. The silo in question was part of an abandoned property and a sort of local landmark. It was hard to miss, even for the local bookworm. He cleared his throat and continued.

“Well, there’s an afterparty going on over there later tonight. You know, music, bonfire, typical redneck stuff, but...it’d probably be more fun than this.” He laughed, and she responded with an awkward giggle. She wasn’t sure what exactly she had expected out of this conversation, but it definitely wasn’t a party invite. For that matter, she wasn’t sure just how to feel about it, but she tried desperately to play it cool.

“Um, yeah,” she said, looking at him with what she hoped resembled an easy smile, “I might go...um...check it out.”

He looked to his feet, nodded, and looked back up. Composure seemingly regained, he said, “Alright. Hope to see you there.” He started to walk away from her, then turned back. “Oh. Soul, by the way.”

She smiled and nodded. “I know.” He looked at her for what seemed like quite some time, before he finally nodded and walked away. She stared after him for far too long, and when Tsubaki found her, she was still catching her breath.

Tsubaki started to worry and ask Maka if she was okay. It didn’t take her long to figure out what had transpired, though, or to at least realize her friend’s predicament, and her eyebrows shot upward.

“Oh my goodness, Maka, you  _ actually _ like him?”

Maka looked at her friend with a strained expression. She wanted to say no--after all, how could she even entertain the  _ idea _ , with a reputation like his? But she knew she couldn’t lie to her best friend. Hell, she could barely lie to herself about it. She decided to change the subject.

“So, uh, Tsubaki, could I maybe stay at your place for a while? It’s been great here and all but you know how…” her voice trailed off, but Tsubaki understood. She nodded and put a hand on Maka’s arm as they left the church together.


	2. Competitive

Maka sat curled on Tsubaki’s mattress, her back against the wall and knees up to her chest. She’d abandoned her dress for a set of pajamas she’d left here at some point over the last several years, and her hair fell lazily over her shoulders. In the bathroom across the hall, she heard dozens of bobby pins hitting the counter as Tsubaki tried to undo her own hair.

Maka held a folder emblazoned with the head of a jackal, the mascot of the school she’d soon be attending. She flipped through the many forms and packets that had been given to her by the staff, but didn’t actually process any of the information. The truth was she’d read through them several times since the college tour--right now she was just trying to relax. Moreover, she was trying to distract herself.

She hadn’t been able to get her interaction with Soul off her mind, and truth be told, it was kind of pissing her off. She felt like she’d been thrown into a freakin’ romcom. Hell, he wasn’t even a smooth talker, at least, not as smooth as you’d expect from the town womanizer. And anyway, that was just it; he was a womanizer. Granted, a  _ rumored _ womanizer, but...ah hell, why was she even worrying about this? She had far more important things to look forward to.

Tsubaki walked into the room attacking her now thoroughly messy hair with a hairbrush. She looked at Maka and shook her head.

“Maka, why are you still looking through that thing? You visited, you were accepted, and you’ve already read it forty times. What else is there to get out of it?”

Maka shrugged and tossed the folder aside. Trying to push her thoughts of Soul aside, she said, “I dunno. I guess now that we’re officially done, it feels… _ real _ . Maybe I’m just excited.”

Tsubaki chuckled and sat down on the bed with her; her hair fell in all kinds of crazy directions. She smiled at Maka. “Alright. Speaking of excited…what happened earlier? You know, with you-know-who?”

Maka cringed. “Oh, don’t call him that, Tsubaki,” she laughed. “It makes you sound like you’re twelve.”

Tsubaki laughed with her. “Alright, fine. I still want to know what he said to you.”

Maka sighed. “I mean…not much; he, uh…invited me to a party--don’t raise your eyebrows just yet. He said it was some kind of redneck bonfire thing, but, more exciting than the church party.” She refrained from adding that regardless of her view on parties in general, he would probably be right.

“Well, are you gonna go?”

Maka was a little stunned by the question. “What? No.”

“Why not?”

She giggled nervously when she realized her friend was serious. “Umm…well, you know I’ve never really been a party person anyway, Tsubaki. And besides, isn’t he supposed to be…you know…bad news?”

“Well, yeah,” Tsubaki said matter-of-factly, dragging the brush through her hair again, “of course he is. But the point of a party is that there’s lots of people, so you wouldn’t be alone with him. And now that we have a little free time to ourselves, I think it could be good for you to socialize. I mean, all you’ve done for the last four years is study.”

“That’s not true! I did extracurriculars. All four years.”

“Newspaper and yearbook club don’t count, Maka.” Before Maka could retort, Tsubaki countered, “Neither does that two weeks of track.”

Maka huffed and crossed her arms. Tsubaki tilted her head and gave her a sympathetic look.

“Hey, I know people aren’t really your strong point. But putting yourself out there, having some fun before you go back to the constant lectures and tests...I think it would be good for you. Plus...I know you don’t want to spend the entire summer dealing with your father.”

Maka looked down at her arms, crossed tightly over her chest as if to soften the sharp twinge she felt beneath her ribs. Tsubaki was right in that respect. The only downside to finally being done with the cliques and judgement and general nonsense of high school was, unfortunately, no longer having a regular escape from home.

“The library’s still open for the summer,” Maka shrugged.

“You can’t hide in the library twenty-four seven, Maka. People will start to think you’re homeless or something.”

Maka wanted to argue, but once again was forced to admit her friend was right. She sighed.

“Well, what else am I supposed to do? There’s nothing to do around here except smoke pot and...I dunno, go horseback riding or something. Everybody around here is either a farmer or a drunk.”

Tsubaki looked down, eyebrows furrowed in thought. She looked back up at Maka with a tense smile, closer to a grimace.

“Well, I do have an idea. Hear me out...”

* * *

 

And so Maka found herself in a building perhaps the size of a two-bedroom apartment, sinking into a suede couch as she looked around a mute-colored room decorated with the usual themes.

_ “Don’t worry,” _ Tsubaki had told her,  _ “they don’t need to know you don’t believe in this stuff. Just look at it as a place to have fun and meet some new people.” _

Yeah. A church-run youth group. Just a fun place to meet friends completely outside the realm of religion. The leader hadn’t even shown up and she already knew he was going to see right through her. How had she let Tsubaki talk her into this?

She felt someone nudge her. She looked over, where Tsubaki sat next to her on the couch, giving her a gentle smile. Just beyond her, on a second couch on the adjacent wall, were two blonde girls; one was sitting upside down near the arm with her nose in a magazine, the other taking up the majority of the couch to file her nails.

“You alright?” Tsubaki murmured. Maka gave her a tense smile and nodded.

“I’ll be alright.”

“Remember, try to relax. It’s not that bad, I promise.”

Maka nodded again. That’s how Tsubaki had talked her into this--assuring her that these things were “more than just preaching,” and that she’d find something she enjoyed about it. And, of course, reminding her not-so-subtly that it was pretty much her one chance to get out of her house all summer. Looking around at the spray of crosses, verses, and inspirational quotes on the walls, Maka really hoped her friend was right about that first part.

“Hey. You new in town?”

Maka looked at the girl with the nail file. “Heh. Hardly,” she said with a tight smile, loathe to think about how much of her life had been wasted here.

“Where are you from? Don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

She gestured vaguely to the east. “Oh, outside town, a few miles--”

The other girl laughed. “No, I mean originally.” Maka gave her a blank look. She sat up straight and leaned forward. “Look,” she said, “in a place like this, outsiders recognize other outsiders.” She pointed to her companion. “I’m Liz, by the way. This is Patty. We’re transplants from Brooklyn.”

“NYC,” came a familiar drawl from the doorway behind Maka. Her heart jumped into her throat. She looked up just as Soul strode past her. The scent of old leather and various kinds of smoke sent her heart into overdrive, and she tried to will it to stop. He dropped into an armchair across the room and kicked his legs over the armrest with a groan. He looked at her with a tired smirk. “Hey, Maka. Didn’t see you at that bonfire the other night.”

She swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. She forced a casual shrug and said, “Guess I’m not much of a party person.”

He put his hands behind his head and nodded slowly. The sly smile on his face made her feel completely transparent.

Liz snickered and spoke to Maka again. “Anyway, it’s pretty obvious you’re not a ‘native,’ either. So, how’d  _ you _ end up in this shithole?”

A string of vague memories played across her mind: her parents’ divorce, yelling across courtrooms, a dusty old muscle car driving across miles of dry, open plains...

“Crappy circumstances, I guess.” 

“Heh. You and me both.”

Maka forced a laugh in response. She was saved from the conversation, thankfully, by another person walking in and addressing the room.

“Well, it appears we’re missing some people today,” said another familiar, droning voice. Everybody looked at the speaker with at least feigned interest, except Soul, who sort of lolled his head toward him and scowled.

“Well,” he said with a sneer, “most people are on vacation right now,  _ Dad _ .”

Pastor Evans gave his son a sidelong glare; Soul responded with an almost imperceptible eye roll. The pastor’s friendly demeanor returned so quickly Maka almost wasn’t sure the exchange had happened at all.

“No matter,” he said brightly, pulling up a chair. “I’m sure we’ll manage just fine. Why don't we start with two verses I feel will be very helpful to the...recent graduates.” He propped a binder open in his lap and started reading the archaic script. As he launched into an explanation of the passages and how they’d pertain to their lives, Maka looked around the room. Tsubaki, of course, watched the preacher and listened politely, flashing Maka a small smile. Liz had gone back to filing her nails, and Patty now sat upright, staring at the ceiling and swaying slightly. Soul lounged away in the armchair, head to the side, apparently napping.

As if he sensed her watching him, Soul’s eyes suddenly opened. One corner of his mouth pulled up into a smirk--she was starting to wonder if he knew any other way to smile. He tilted his head just slightly toward his father, rolled his eyes, then put a finger-gun to his head and pretended to fire. Maka put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.

Tsubaki nudged her and raised an eyebrow. Maka shook her head quickly and pretended to pay attention to the speech. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Soul grinning.

“So, with that in mind, why don’t we play a game? I was going to have you split into teams, but seeing as there are only five of you...ah, let’s just make it a group effort!” The pastor stood and retrieved a small rectangular box from a table against the wall. He showed it to the room, revealing a summertime poolside picture printed on the top of it. “The pieces to this puzzle,” he explained, “are hidden in the next room and in the backyard. There are fifty pieces in total. Your objective is simple--find all of the pieces and try to put the puzzle together. A nice, simple team-building activity! Yes, Liz?”

Liz had her hand up. “Couldn’t we still put some kind of challenge on it?” she asked. “Like, whoever finds the most pieces wins or something? Some of us are kind of competitive.”

Tsubaki nudged Maka again and gave her a knowing look. Maka raised her eyebrows and gave a one-shouldered shrug; she’d been teased for her competitiveness long enough that she simply accepted it as who she was.

The pastor blinked rapidly for a second and shook his head slightly. “Um...of course,” he said, his kind smile present once again. “Good idea, Liz. Well then, with five of you and fifty pieces, I’m sure this shouldn’t take you long at all. Have fun!”

He continued talking, something about setting up the puzzle on the table when they returned, as everyone stood to leave. Maka followed Tsubaki as the group made their way outside, chattering amongst themselves.

“So this shouldn’t be too difficult,” Maka said. “We just need to find ten pieces each and we’re good to go. Easy.”

“Ah, that’s no fun,” Soul piped up from just behind and to Maka’s right. “Too cut and dry. Remember one of us is supposed to find the  _ most _ pieces, right? ‘Cause apparently some people are too  _ competitive _ for that-- _ Liz _ .”

“ _ I’m _ the competitive one out of everyone you know?” Maka could hear Liz laughing from behind her. “Do I need to remind you who your best friend is?”

“I’m gonna beat  _ all  _ of you! I’m gonna find all  _ fifty  _ pieces  _ myself _ !” a shrill girl’s voice yelled. Patty sprinted past Maka and Tsubaki to the screen door, stunning Maka with her enthusiasm. Maka stood and watched as Patty ran outside with a giggle, immediately reaching down to pick something up out of the grass. Liz and Soul walked past in nearly identical poses, hands in their pockets.

“There’s also her,” Liz said, gesturing to the laughing girl outside. “By the way, where is Black Star?”

As Soul followed Liz out the door, Maka heard him scoff, “Please. You really want the embodiment of a God complex sitting through a church thing?”

Maka and Tsubaki looked at each other and snickered before following the other three.

The more obviously placed pieces had already been found when Maka finally joined in the hunt. When she glanced to the right, she saw Patty desperately climbing up a drain pipe trying to reach the roof, and Liz quietly plucking a piece out of the drainpipe itself. The thought of a challenge, even such a frivolous one, sparked a familiar sense of pride in Maka, and she set off.

Three cleverly hidden pieces and a few thorn pricks later, Maka found herself eagerly searching through a rosebush. Footsteps approached from behind her, followed by Soul’s voice.

“You know, you already found one in there, I doubt there’ll be more.”

She turned to see him leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest. She turned away from the bush and stepped toward him.

“And how many have you found, exactly?”

He held up a single puzzle piece. “It was propped up against the building when we walked out. Patty ran right past it,” he said smugly. Maka shook her head and started scanning the area again. Soul’s eyes followed her as she walked slowly through the grass. “So, what are your plans? You look like you’re just as uncomfortable here as the rest of us, and everybody else with means have already gotten the hell out of Dodge...but you’re still here.”

She turned away to investigate a spot on the lawn, but kept her head turned slightly so he could hear her. “I’m going to college,” she said, “just...still looking for a place to go. Can’t afford dorms. I’ll be out of here by the end of the summer, though.”

“Makes sense. What’s your major?”

She was a little surprised that he’d ask; it seemed like the last thing he’d be interested in. It was usually the first thing people asked when college was mentioned, though. Maybe he was just using it as an ‘in.’ In any case, she hid the signs of both her nerves and her interest.

“Comparative Literature,” she answered casually. To her shock, he burst out laughing. She felt her face heat up and spun to face him. “What?!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just...what the hell are you gonna do with a  _ Lit _ major?” He was practically wiping tears from his eyes. In glaring at him, she noticed a small spot of color in the tree behind him, propped up where the trunk split into branches. Without thinking, she stalked up to it and reached past him to grab it.

“I’m going to get my teaching license and work my way up to being a college professor. Everybody laughs and jokes about the Lit major, but the written word has impacted society since before modern engineering was even…” it was at this moment, when she had retrieved the puzzle piece and tilted her head down to look him in the eye, that she realized just how close she was to him. She hadn’t thought about their relative positions, him with his back to the tree trunk and her straining to reach over his shoulder, and it occurred to her quite suddenly that she could actually feel his body heat. Her face was only inches from his.

“Yeah,” he said with a slight stutter, “you, big scary college professor. I can see it.” She swore she saw a tinge of red in his face. She stepped back quickly, her cheeks burning. She glanced around and found the other three had retreated inside at some point. They were  _ alone _ .

Oh no.

Trying to regain her composure, she muttered something about there being “nothing else out here” and hurried to the door. In her haste to get away from the situation, she nearly knocked down Tsubaki, who had her face only inches from the screen.

“What was that?!” Tsubaki hissed before Maka could ask what the hell she was doing there. Maka glanced backward and hastily shook her head.

“Nothing,” she said, moving past Tsubaki to find the other two girls. “Completely unintentional…”

Again, Liz and Patty had just about cleared the area by the time Maka got there. They stood facing each other in the center of a kitchen (she couldn’t help but be surprised there  _ was _ a kitchen in a building this small), aggressively counting their pieces.

“You do not have twenty-five!” Liz cried. “Where are you even keeping them all?!”

Patty gave her a smug grin and pointed out that she had pockets.

“How many do you have, Liz?” Tsubaki asked. Liz groaned.

“Twelve. What about you guys? We can’t find any more, might as well do a count.”

Tsubaki replied with “Eight.” Maka looked at the four in her hand with minor contempt. Had she really let herself get distracted by a  _ boy _ ? This just wasn't like her at all. She sighed, reminded herself this was all in fun.

“Alright, and Soul has one,” she said. “Guess that puts us at fifty.”

“ _ Yesssss! _ ” Patty broke into dance as they headed back to the main room, teasing Liz the entire way about being the winner.

The construction of the puzzle was much more peaceful than the hunt, if slightly more confusing. Maka surprised herself by taking charge of the project almost right away, instructing the others to sort out pieces and even going so far as to start dividing sections for everyone to work on before Tsubaki reminded her to relax a little. Eventually, they settled into a comfortable rhythm--Maka and Tsubaki diligently working to put the picture together, Liz doing the same while occasionally getting distracted by her hands or hair, Soul mostly just moving pieces around to look busy, and Patty laughing at pieces that looked silly. The pastor left the group to themselves, alternating between reading and writing in his binder.

“So Liz,” Maka said. “You and Patty, you said you guys are sisters?”

“Yup.” Liz leaned over to whisper, “I know she’s got a bigger rack, but I’m the older one.”

“I wasn’t...um…” With a nervous smile, Maka moved the conversation elsewhere. “Anyway, I know you said you guys aren’t from around here, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around at all until now. How long have you been here, exactly?”

“Too long,” Liz laughed. “Okay, we’ve been here a few years. Not sure how long; don’t really like to think back to why we had to come, you know?”

Maka nodded solemnly in agreement.

“Anyway,” Liz continued, “we did some online schooling for a bit, and then that didn’t work out, but we never went to public school. I mean, we go to the lake and the parties and the fair sometimes though; we’re not total recluses.”

Maka smiled wryly. “Guess I must be the recluse, then.”

“You don’t have to be,” Tsubaki reminded her in a soft, teasing sing-song. Maka rolled her eyes.

“She’s right,” Liz said. “It’s already hot as...anyway, everybody’s gonna start going to the lake again soon, you should come with us next time we go.”

“What, like...swimming?” Maka looked at Liz with an expression of concern.

“Well, yeah, we’re not exactly on the coastline, so...what, you can’t swim?”

“I can! It’s just...lake water is...not exactly sterile.” The whole group snickered, much to Maka’s vexation.

“That’s what showers exist for, Maka,” Liz chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure nobody’s ever died of a flesh eating disease here.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” she muttered. The final piece was put into place not long after, and the pastor took notice of their sudden excitement.

“Ah, wonderful!” he exclaimed. “It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a little teamwork, isn’t it? Remember,  _ ‘For the body is not one member, but many.’ _ ” He turned around for a moment, and Maka saw Liz and Soul share sidelong glances. It was strangely comforting to find she was apparently not the only heathen in the group; however, she also found it odd that the majority of a church group...would want nothing to do with the very point of the group.

She didn’t get time to dwell on the thought; the pastor had focused his attention on them once more, now holding a box of index cards.

“Alright, and we are officially out of time, so let’s find out today’s little homework assignment.” He made a show of deciding which card to draw, and Maka started to panic. Tsubaki had not said anything about homework. If she was seriously expected to write paragraphs or something…he picked a card and smiled as he read it aloud. “Where else would you like to live, and why? So remember, think on that question for the next few days, and I’d like to hear some creative answers at our next meeting! All of you have a blessed day.”

She breathed a sigh of relief as she stood to leave with the others.

“See, Maka?” Tsubaki said once they’d left the building. “It’s really not that bad. That was kind of fun, right?”

Maka was tossing around a few possible answers in her head when Tsubaki nudged her. “It’s more fun than sitting around in your PJs watching crime show reruns all day, at least.”

“Hey, that sounds like a good time to me,” Soul interjected, moving to stand in front of the girls.

“Same,” Liz added as she and Patty joined them. Tsubaki huffed in exasperation.

“Guys, I’m trying to get her  _ out _ of the house,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, well then you should both definitely come to the lake with us. You don’t have to swim if you’re scared, Maka,” she teased good-naturedly. “Just come hang out and, I dunno, play volleyball on the shore with us or whatever. Besides, you could use a little sun.”

Maka glanced down at herself and looked up at Liz in shock.

“When are we doing that, anyway?” Soul asked before Maka could demand an explanation. “I mean, I’m pretty much never doing anything cool.”

“Ugh, I’m working for the next, like, four days,” Liz groaned. “I’m off Saturday.”

“There’s always a bunch of people on weekends, though.”

“Well, yes, Soul, that would be the point of going out in  _ public _ .”

Soul made a disgusted face. After some more back-and-forth about scheduling and weather (“It’s gonna be hot as balls until  _ December _ , Soul”), they decided on a date two days later, after Liz’s morning shift. Liz excused herself, saying she and her sister needed to get home and get some food. As she walked away, she turned back to Soul.

“You’ll let Black Star know, right?” she called.

“No need; he’ll show up anywhere he can make a spectacle of himself,” he responded. Liz laughed.

“Good point. Nice meeting you, Maka!”

Maka waved as Liz turned back around and left with Patty.

“Guess we should all be heading back home for now, huh?” Soul said, bringing Maka’s attention back to him. She looked at her feet and nodded. She cringed at the thought, but, she did have to return home at some point. When she looked up, Soul was looking pointedly at her, eyebrows raised. “So, I’ll see you at the lake, right? Don’t no-show on me this time.”

Maka was so busy trying to look like she wasn’t fighting to breathe normally that the only response she could muster was a rapid nod. Soul smiled and turned to leave. Tsubaki shook her head at Maka with clear disappointment.

“I still can’t believe you,” she sighed. “I mean, really? Him?”

“You have a crush on _ Black Star. _ ” Maka didn’t even look at Tsubaki while delivering her rebuttal. Tsubaki tried to sputter out a denial, but eventually huffed and dropped it. A car pulled up to the street, and Maka recognized it as belonging to Tsubaki’s father. Time to face her reality for the next few months.

“Hey,” Tsubaki’s voice took on a gentler tone. “Are you gonna be alright? At home, I mean?”

Maka looked at her friend with pursed lips. “I’ve survived it pretty much my whole life, right? What’s a few more months? Don’t worry, you know I’ll call you if I really need you.”

Tsubaki nodded, and the girls, Maka somewhat reluctantly, headed toward the car.

* * *

 

Maka took much longer to cross the driveway than she should have, taking in the dingy little middle-of-nowhere abode with more disdain than ever. She’d hated this place since she’d first laid eyes on it eleven or twelve years ago. The house was small and in desperate disrepair, it was miles outside of town, and sat only a few hundred yards from the edge of a thick forest. Most townsfolk were adamant the place was haunted. Maka didn’t believe in the supernatural, but it did give her the creeps, even after all these years.

She couldn’t wait to leave it behind, maybe get lucky and forget she ever knew it

She reached the door, opened it as silently as she could, and walked in with great reluctance. The familiar, sickening smell of dust and booze hit her immediately. She closed the door, keeping the handle turned so the latch wouldn’t click, and then steadied herself before continuing into the house.

The curtains were drawn across the entire house, leaving only a few small rays of daylight peeking through to light Maka’s way. It didn’t matter much; she knew this house well enough that it wouldn’t have mattered if she were entirely blind. She hadn’t bumped into a piece of furniture in years.

_ Clink. _

Now the liquor bottles were another matter entirely. They were like mines hidden around the depressing but otherwise peaceful living room. Her chest swelled with rage when she realized her foot had just come in contact with one. She heard her previously sleeping father stir on the couch.

“Maka…’s that you?” he slurred. Maka closed her eyes and counted to five before answering.

“Yeah, Papa...it’s me.”

“Oh...time ish it…”

“Early,” she lied, thinking maybe he’d just stay there and remain useless if he thought it was still morning.

“Oh. Getting ready for school?”

She sighed and hung her head, torn between the hatred burning in her chest and the tears burning the backs of her eyes. All that fuss he’d made about her being done with school, and a few dates with Jack and Jim…

“Yeah, Papa. Go back to sleep.”

He mumbled something incoherent, but appeared to obey. Maka stood there fighting back tears for a moment, before retreating to her bedroom and throwing herself on the bed face first. Three days. Three days she had been gone, panicking occasionally about what her father would say when she was forced to return. And he didn’t even notice she was gone. For the past three days she hadn’t existed.

She really couldn’t wait to leave  _ him _ behind. Get the hell out of here and never look back.

_ Everybody else with means has already gotten the hell out of Dodge… _

She wasn’t sure why Soul’s voice came to her head, especially at a time like this, but she didn’t dwell on it. “Everybody else with the means.” She rolled over with a sigh and stared at the ceiling as she went over her escape plan, just like she’d done a thousand times since she’d moved here.

She’d been accepted into college. She had the scholarships to pay for it. Any pocket money she’d managed to scrape together and spare was safely tucked away. She had a car in the driveway, older than her but still functional, which she didn’t drive except in dire emergencies so as not to dip into her savings for gas money. She had online job applications in all over the city. All that remained was finding a place to stay.

The only thing keeping her in this damn town was the fact that she had nowhere else to go.

She started to think about the lake that the others had been talking about. She had never understood why it was such a popular pastime, given the kinds of things that probably existed in that water, but as she looked around at her current situation it started to sound a lot more enticing. She made up her mind to go when the time came, and somehow, the resulting train of thought took her right back to Soul.

_ “Don’t no-show on me this time.” _

_ “Didn’t see you at that bonfire.” _

_ “Yeah. You, a big scary college professor. I could see it.” _

She groaned internally at the last memory. Just thinking about how close she’d been to him, really seeing the deep red of his eyes, feeling the heat of his breath, the smell of worn out leather and smoke and exhaust...she hated herself for feeling this way. All her young life, she’d never felt this strongly about a  _ boy _ . And a leather-wearing “bad boy,” no less.

God, the cliché was unbearable.

She sighed once again and rolled over onto her side. She couldn’t bear to think about this right now; it was exhausting. The sun hadn’t quite begun to set, but the alarm clock next to her said it was after six. That wasn’t too late for a nap, right?


	3. Water

The date of the lake visit arrived faster than Maka anticipated, but she found relief in that fact; she'd long ago learned to appreciate quick, uneventful days. Today, though, she hoped she’d learn to appreciate the opposite as well. The weather was perfect for as close to a beach day as she would get; the sun shone brightly, the few wisps of clouds so close to the horizon they could hardly be considered. A gentle breeze occasionally gave relief from the scorching afternoon temperatures, though, annoyingly, it would also blow clouds of dust up from the road.

Maka sat against a fence post at the edge of her driveway, a worn floral sundress over her swimsuit. She stared into the vast nothingness towards town, watching for Liz’s vehicle. She had fretted over her clothing for much longer than she should have, still feeling a little apprehensive about it. She tucked her hair behind her ear; simultaneously, she worried over her appearance and asked herself who she was trying to impress anyway.

Ah, hell, she knew exactly who she was hoping to impress. She just hated to admit it to herself. She wasn’t sure what to do with all these...feelings, nerves and girlish giddiness upping her heart rate and drying her mouth out. She shook her head; she was going out for an afternoon with  _ friends _ .

Maka heard the distant sound of an approaching vehicle, and a cloud of dust appeared down the road. She sat up a little straighter, squinting as though she’d be able to see the driver from this distance. The wind picked up again, and she held onto her hair, trying to see through the dust but ultimately giving up. It cleared again before long, and she could just make out the shape of a pickup truck. She let her eyes fall back down to the ground; no way that was Liz.

She reached into the canvas bag carrying her towel and other essentials and pulled out her phone to check for a text. She opened her messages with Tsubaki--the only messages she had besides her father's, which she routinely ignored--and started to type when she heard tires rolling to a stop in front of her.

“Hey!”

Maka looked up. Sure enough, there sat a rusted, sputtering pickup truck. Liz grinned at her from the driver's seat, one hand on the steering wheel and her other arm dangling out the window. She had a pair of sunglasses on top of her head and wore a bikini top in place of a shirt. Tsubaki leaned forward and waved, and from the bed of the truck, Patty yelled, “Hi, Maka!”

Maka stood and dusted herself off, eyeing the truck with curiosity. Liz must have noticed the look on her face.

“What were you expecting?” she laughed, pushing her sunglasses down onto her face. “A Lexus? Come on, there’s a seat up here or you can hop in the back with Patty.”

Maka smiled and, despite Patty’s insistence that riding in the truck bed would be far more fun, opted for the front seat. Tsubaki helped her up into the cab. It was a little cramped with three adults on the bench seat, but not claustrophobic. A small cylindrical air freshener was attached to the dashboard, a chemical cherry scent fighting against the diesel smell that permeated the vehicle.

“You look good, Maka,” Tsubaki said with a smile.

“Thanks.” She put her bag on her lap and started reaching for the seatbelt.

“Don’t worry about that,” Liz said, grunting with the effort of turning the steering wheel, “that one’s busted. It’s alright, if we hit a cow or something, it’ll kill the truck before it kills us.” When she got the vehicle roaring back toward town, she patted the dashboard. “This thing’s ugly, but it’s built like a tank.”

Maka wasn’t sure whether to be comforted by that thought. She tried to take her mind off her impending doom by moving the conversation elsewhere.

“If I’m honest,” she said, “I guess I was kind of expecting a Lexus. Not sure why, but it seems like you.”

Liz snorted. “God, I wish. But, around here you take what you can afford, especially if it’s practical. No way I’d be driving a car like that in all this dirt.”

Maka nodded. There was a brief silence, interrupted by Patty’s exclamation of “COWS!” from the truck bed.

“So you weren’t kidding when you said a few miles out of town,” Liz said. “Do you like…really live there?”

Maka nodded slowly. “Not really sure why I’d lie about it,” she said. She wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Well, I mean, it’s kinda cool, in a weird...way. Hey, is it really...haunted?”

In the past, such questions had irritated Maka, but now she smiled easily and shrugged. “Well, if there are any ghosts there, they haven’t shown themselves to me.”

“Well, ghosts don’t show themselves to everyone, ya know.”

Tsubaki laughed. “Don’t worry, Liz, pretty sure the only ghost in that house is Maka.”

It was meant to be light-hearted, but the joke still stung somewhere deep inside her. She knew it was true, in a manner of speaking, but it brought back age-old creeping thoughts, realizations that she didn’t really have a home. Not in the truest sense of the word. She had the house, sure. And she had Tsubaki’s family to stay with when she couldn’t handle her father anymore. But neither of them could really be called “home.”

No. She couldn’t think about that now. Today was going to be a good day, damn it. And you know what? It was going to be a good summer if she had any say in it.

“Hey, Maka, you mind if I smoke?” Liz was already cranking the window down; Tsubaki looked horrified.

“Liz, I thought you said you were going to quit!”

“Hey, you try waiting tables for ten hours a day and see how far  _ you _ get without nicotine.”

“There are healthier ways!”

“It could be worse; I could be a heroin addict, you know.”

“That's not the point!”

Patty opened the back window and stuck her head through.

“What's goin’ on in here?”

Maka giggled. She'd already made two more friends, and the summer had just started. That had to be a good sign, right?

Some minutes later, Liz fought the steering wheel to park the truck with the back end facing the lake. Maka stepped out and her sandals were immediately filled with sand. Her first reaction was irritation, but she realized how warm it was, and strangely soft. She was sure it was just clay deposits in the area, and yet, it touched some optimistic part of her. She looked around her, felt the sun on her skin, saw the groups of people all having the time of their lives right in this moment. In a place she’d considered Hell her whole life, she wanted to appreciate what little happiness could be found.

“Oh, looks like the boys beat us here,” Liz said from the other side of the truck, putting her sunglasses atop her head again. Maka looked out towards the water; sure enough, two unkempt tufts of hair marked Soul and Black Star, mounting rented jet skis at the edge of the water.

“Oh no,” Tsubaki groaned.

“What is it?” Maka gave Tsubaki a concerned look.

“Those two idiots on jet skis? This is gonna be bad…”

“Oh, this is gonna be great!” Liz said, grinning. There was a  _ click _ and a loud groaning as she pulled the tailgate down and climbed up into the truck bed with Patty. “Come on, you two. I brought soda, and now we have free entertainment.”

Maka and Tsubaki obeyed and climbed onto the truck. They sat facing the water, legs dangling off the tailgate. While Patty climbed up to sit on the side of the truck bed, Liz joined the other two at the end, carrying four brown bottles. Maka’s stomach knotted momentarily, until one was passed to her and she found it was only root beer.

“Huh. I didn’t realize they bottled soda anymore,” Maka said.

As she twisted the cap off her bottle, Liz responded, “Yeah. Cans are probably cheaper but honestly, I think the bottles just look cooler.”

Maka smiled. It took her a few tries, but she got the bottle cap off and took a sip as she looked out toward the water. There were quite a few people out today, especially given the population of the area; it seemed like the whole town was here. Some, like Maka and her friends, simply sunbathed, or relaxed in the sand. A group of younger teenagers tossed a volleyball around in the shallow water, an enthusiastic German Shepherd splashing along with them. There were a handful of small boats dotting the water, one or two trailing a sunbather on an innertube. The sun sparkled off calmer waters at the edges of the lake, disturbed only by a few fishermen’s lines.

The place was so full of excitement, and somehow so serene at the same time. Maka couldn’t help but smile.

_ “YAAAHOOO--oh shit!” _

All four girls turned to the source of the outburst; Maka turned just in time to see Black Star fall from an almost implausible height and skip across the water twice before finally sinking under it. Liz and Patty burst into laughter, while Tsubaki covered her mouth in shock. Maka couldn’t help but giggle herself.

“So, what’s up with him, anyway?” Liz asked as her laughter died down.

“What do you mean?” Maka replied, watching as Black Star resurfaced, Soul riding circles around him and laughing as he sputtered.

“You know, Black Star. I mean, he’s kinda...weird. But I’ve never really thought to ask Soul about him. For starters, his hair...”

“Dyes it,” Maka and Tsubaki said in unison. Liz clicked her tongue.

“I knew it. Stupid question. But...is...is his name really…”

“We have no idea,” Tsubaki told her with a shake of her head.

“That’s how he introduced himself when we were kids,” Maka explained. “He got teased to hell and back, but nobody ever...questioned it. After a while, we all got used to it and now everyone’s too afraid to ask.”

Liz nodded slowly and lifted the root beer to her lips. Maka got lost in memories of elementary school, this strange and very loud kid popping up, doing whatever he could to be the center of attention. She remembered when he had started showing up to school with wild colors in his hair, sometime in their early teens. It elicited fascination from some, taunting from others, but for Black Star, any attention was good attention. As they’d grown up, his hair and his antics had become less novel, despite his best efforts, but he still earned himself some looks once in a while.

Maka turned to Tsubaki, a devious smile turning her lips.

“You know, Tsubaki, you should really get your butt in gear and say something to him already,” she said. Tsubaki’s head snapped around to look at her, panicked.

“What?!”

“Come on, we all know you like him,” Maka teased. “Not like it hasn’t been a secret since...oh...second grade?” The girls laughed as Tsubaki turned a brilliant shade of red.

“Maybe you should take your own advice, Maka,” she huffed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maka sipped her root beer, no longer making eye contact. Tsubaki raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, you’ve been gushing over a certain preacher’s son for the last week and a half. I’d say it sounds like you’re the one with something to say.” Patty put a hand over her mouth with a dramatic gasp; Liz nearly choked on her soda.

“Ooooooooh, you have a crush on Soul?!” Patty teased. Maka hissed at her to shut up, despite Soul clearly being far from hearing range.

“Hmm, the sweet, studious bookworm and the bad-boy preacher’s kid,” Liz mused. “Now  _ that’s  _ a soap opera I’d pay to see…again.”

“Liz! It’s not like that! I don’t…” she sighed. “Even if I  _ did _ ...Tsubaki, I thought you said I should stay  _ away  _ from him.”

Tsubaki shrugged. “Personally, I think he’s a terrible influence. But, if it’s really  _ distracting _ you that badly…” Tsubaki’s teasing was met with more giggles and a playful arm punch from Maka.

Another comfortable silence followed. Patty jumped down from the truck and hummed as she started to trace pictures in the sand, Liz bumped her sunglasses down onto her face and laid back into the truck bed, and Maka and Tsubaki watched the boys. The two had made their way back to the shore, Soul still laughing at his friend’s mishap. Black Star tried to take Soul in a headlock, and the two wrestled for a time. It was silly, Maka thought, the way they beat each other (and sometimes themselves) up for fun...and somehow, kind of adorable.

She hardly realized she’d been staring until Soul looked up and caught her eye. He pushed his hair up out of his face and smiled. She felt the heat rising to her face and looked down at her lap, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Then she let out a deep sigh, upon realizing Tsubaki was absolutely correct in her accusations.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I guess Soul seems...nice. Kinda. I don’t know, maybe...maybe I do like him. But even if I did, I mean, I barely know him!” She spoke faster upon realizing she’d said the thought out loud. “And it’s not really the right time to get into a relationship anyway, right? Probably totally jumping the gun here, huh?” She looked at Tsubaki with a nervous smile, silently pleading for advice. Tsubaki shrugged again, this time with more uncertainty.

“I mean, I think he’s going to break your heart and you should find someone more...suitable, but if that’s what you want to do…”

“Ehh, it’s not that complicated,” Liz interjected. “You’re a grown woman. Do what you want. If you like him, fuck him.”

“Liz!” Maka gasped.

“Hey!”

Maka looked over and froze; Black Star was approaching the group, and trailing slightly behind him was Soul. A very wet, very  _ topless _ Soul. She gulped and tore her eyes away from him before she could be caught gawking. She was silently berating herself for reacting so stupidly to the sight of a bare chest when Black Star started...what she could only imagine was an attempt at flirting.

“You ladies saw that, right?” he said. He flexed his muscles and grinned. “Totally the coolest thing I’ve pulled off all summer, what do ya think?”

Maka wasn’t sure how to respond. She looked over at Tsubaki and resisted the urge to laugh; Tsubaki was looking everywhere except at Black Star, wide-eyed and tense.

“Yeah, totally,” Liz droned. “Best human skipping stone I’ve ever seen.” The sarcasm dripping from her voice could have melted steel, but it seemed to slip right past Black Star. He only laughed and continued on about how awesome he was, flexing at random while trying to make it look unintentional. The secondhand embarrassment was almost too much for Maka to handle.

“Hey, you guys wanna come play some volleyball or somethin’?” Soul asked over his rambling friend. “It looks like those kids left. Plus, you’re gonna get some serious burns if you just sit around on a hot slab of metal all day.”

Maka had been watching Black Star as Soul spoke; he was a train wreck, honestly. When she looked over toward Soul, she found him looking straight at her. He raised an eyebrow; she felt her shoulders tense and looked at her friends.

“Uhh...I mean, I’m not very good,” she said, hoping the lump in her throat wasn’t as visible as it felt, “but if you guys are up to it…”

Liz turned to Maka, pushed her glasses onto her nose and gave her a knowing smirk. Maka panicked and desperately hoped she wouldn’t say anything.

“Sure, why not? They leave the ball over there?” The truck creaked as Liz sat back up and jumped off the tailgate. Maka breathed a sigh of relief and followed the group to a run-down volleyball net. It had probably been on that beach for decades; the net was little more than strings, hanging low enough that it served more as a divider than an actual volleyball net.

They split into teams, first having Patty join the boys; after realizing this left Maka on a team with significantly taller people, Liz traded places with her sister--not without having a giggle at Maka’s expense, of course. With the odds slightly evened out, Maka started to relax and actually enjoy herself. The boys were keeping score in the sand, but surprisingly, she found herself caring less and less. 

She kicked her sandals off and tossed them to the side so she could feel the soft sand beneath her feet. As she slowly got the hang of the game she caught herself, several times, staring across the net at Soul--the way his muscles moved, the way the sweat and water on his skin glistened, the way he grinned as he pushed his hair out of his face between matches. And several times, she caught him smiling right back at her. It still made her heart stop, but she didn’t scold herself for it now. When she stopped overthinking it, stopped trying to fight it, the fluttering in her chest felt...good. It made her feel--

“Maka!”

A fraction of a second after she registered Tsubaki’s voice, Maka saw the ball coming straight for her. She threw her hands up to deflect it, pushing it straight over the drooping net at a considerable speed. It made a resounding  _ thwack _ as it connected with Soul’s face. A second of stunned silence filled the air as he cried out and stumbled backwards, followed by a chorus of laughter.

“Holy shit, Maka,” Liz gasped between peals of laughter. “That’s gotta be some kind of foul!”

Maka ran to the other side of the net, face alight with embarrassment. Soul had his hand over the lower half of his face and his eyes shut tightly with pain.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Are you okay? I didn’t, I don’t know, break anything, did I?”

Soul opened his eyes and once again, she was faced with their unexpected proximity. She’d been fussing and instinctively trying to get closer to examine his injuries, and somehow ended up even closer than she intended. Her breath caught in her throat, and for all her panic, she suddenly found herself speechless.

They stared into each other’s eyes for far too long before Soul moved, taking his hand from his face to examine the damage. He tilted his head slightly.

“Eh, little bit of blood. I don’t think it’ll kill me.” Maka swallowed and nodded.

“Uhh...good. Good. I’m so sorry,” she stammered as she stepped back.

“Whoo!” Liz approached the two, wiping sweat from her brow and catching her breath from laughter. “Well, I think we can call that game. We have more points but I’m almost tempted to concede just for that last hit.”

Maka groaned. She turned around to face Tsubaki and Patty, who had come to join the rest of the group on the other side of the net. Patty was still snickering behind her hand, while Tsubaki gave Maka an amused smile and head shake.

“Come on, guys,” Liz turned toward the lake and gestured for the others to follow. “We can’t just come all the way out here and not swim.” Before Maka could protest, she was already sashaying towards the water, Black Star and Patty excitedly rushing in behind her.

“Wait, are we just gonna leave…” Maka pointed helplessly to the volleyball.

“It’s kind of a community ball,” Tsubaki said as she walked past Maka. “Just leave it for the next person to use. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Maka stayed put, though, watching her friends race toward the water. Liz had evidently been in her bikini since leaving her house that day, Tsubaki simply undid a wrap around her hips to reveal the one-piece she wore, and Patty...well, Patty eagerly stripped off both her tank top and her shorts on her way to the water, leaving a trail of clothing behind her.

Maka looked down at herself, trying to convince herself to join her friends, but freezing up at the thought of undressing in front of half the town. The swimsuit under her dress was modest enough, but, well, it was the removal of the dress that made her anxious. How the others, namely Liz and Patty, could be so comfortable doing something so brazenly revealing, was a mystery to her.

Soul started to saunter past her, then stopped and turned toward her.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s the matter? Not still afraid of Cthulhu coming out of the lake, are you?”

She glowered at him. “E. Coli is more like it.”

“Well, don't drink the water and I think you’ll be fine.”. He gave her a more sympathetic look when she rolled her eyes at him. “Come on, start by stepping in. Just up to your ankles or whatever. It’s really not that bad.”

He stretched his hand out to her; she looked at it and her stomach knotted. Her chest tightened up, and a million thoughts raced through her head. She looked up at his gentle smile, then over to her friends splashing around, then back to him again. Should she? There were people everywhere, and these people were notoriously nosey. Was she even ready for this? Oh God, what would Tsubaki say?

Soul raised his eyebrows slightly. “Hey. I know you pretty much just met me, but you can trust me.”

Whispers floated through her head, bits of rumors and warnings--it’s just a ploy, you know what he is, haven’t you heard...but when she forced herself to look in his eyes, she saw only sincerity.

She reached out and gingerly took his hand. To hell with what anyone said.

He grinned and tugged her toward the water’s edge. The first laps of water around her feet were shockingly cold; she gasped and shivered involuntarily, free hand grabbing the opposite arm. Soul laughed.

“It’s not that bad. Don’t be such a drama queen.” In spite of his friendly taunting, he squeezed her hand for comfort.

“I guess…” her voice shook; a combination of the sudden cold and nerves because  _ he was holding her hand _ , but she tried to pass it off as a giggle. “I guess I just assumed since it’s so hot…”

“Eh, big body of water. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

She nodded. Trying to ignore the unsettling squishing of mud and wet clay between her toes, she looked farther out for her friends. Tsubaki caught her eye first, thanks to the tight-lipped concern she was aiming at Maka and Soul. Her disapproving expression disappeared almost immediately when she noticed Maka looking her way, replaced with a beaming smile and wave. Maka waved back with her free hand, just as Liz and Patty simultaneously jumped out of the water, splashing Tsubaki in the process.

Maka giggled. She lifted one foot and cautiously stepped forward, trying not to think about what she might run into in the murky water. Slowly, she made it deeper into the water, stopping a few feet from the shore, the water lapping just below her knees.

“See,” Soul said, squeezing her hand again, “it’s not so bad, right?”

She smiled and squeezed back. “Yeah! Not bad at all.”

When he met her eyes, she just about melted into the water. When he looked out onto the water, she wasn’t sure whether to feel glad or disappointed.

“Liz, step up your game!” he yelled. “You should be a master at holding your breath by now!”

Even from a moderate distance, Maka could hear Liz start screaming back--what did he know and who was he to talk and something about a fish. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing along with him.

“ _ BLACK STAR CANNONBALLLLL! _ ”

All eyes looked to the sky. Maka watched in awe as Black Star flew through the air, then began to step back as she realized where his trajectory would land him. Soul stayed put, shaking his head.

“Where did he even--”

“ _ YAHOOOOO! _ ”

With that final victory scream, Black Star disappeared under the surface; the resulting pillar of water was enough to spray Maka even in her mad dash to the shore. Soul and the rest of the group followed her onto the sand, all soaked and spitting out lake water. Black Star emerged a couple of minutes later, laughing hysterically.

“Ha!” he cried in triumph, slapping Soul on the back. “That was even bigger than my last one! I’m building up so much muscle mass! I’m gonna empty out half the lake with my next one!”

“Yeah, totally,” Soul groaned. “That was pretty cool, though.” The boys laughed and high-fived. Maka gave the other girls a questioning look; they all just shook their heads.

“Hey, that one kid is throwing a bonfire again tonight,” Soul said to the group as they headed back to the truck to dry off.

“Again?” Maka said. “What is there to celebrate this time?”

Soul shrugged. “Existing, I guess. These country folk will throw a party just for the sake of throwing one.”

Liz nodded in agreement as she toweled off her hair. “I’m always down for a party. Who needs a reason?”

“Whoooo, party!” Patty sang, throwing her fist in the air.

“Yeah, a party could be fun, Maka,” Tsubaki chimed in. “Maybe we should go this time.”

Maka opened her mouth to politely disagree, but Soul cut her off.

“Yeah, you guys should definitely come. It’s not exactly Mardi Gras, but it’s not bad. Music, dancing, food, booze…”

“Oh, I, uhh...I don’t...drink…”

Soul raised an eyebrow at her. For a moment the intensity of his stare froze her in place, praying she hadn’t just said something horribly stupid. Finally, though, he shrugged.

“Well, where there’s booze, there’s chasers. I’m sure you’ll find something.”

“He’s right, Maka,” Tsubaki said. “You should go. We can both go.”

“Uhhh…”

“Okay, here.” Liz draped her towel over the back of the truck and held her hand out. “Where’s your phone?”

An odd question, Maka thought, but she rummaged through her bag for it anyway. She showed the phone to Liz, who took it from her and began typing.

“Holy crap, this thing is old,” she mumbled. Maka grimaced.

“Not everybody has five hundred dollars to drop on a phone,” she said between gritted teeth. Liz laughed.

“ _ Nobody _ around here has five hundred dollars to drop on a phone. Hell, I got mine from a drug dealer on Craigslist. Alright, so here’s my number…and here’s Patty’s. If you can’t get a hold of me, you can usually contact me through her.” Liz handed the phone back; Patty grinned and waved. “These things don’t start til after dark anyway, so you’ve got some time to think it over. If you change your mind, let me know and I can come get you.”

Maka smiled and nodded. Black Star asked some question regarding the party and Maka’s mind trailed off. Menial conversation buzzed incoherently around her and she was drawn into her own analytical head, weighing options, pros and cons…

“Hey, Maka.” Soul’s voice was softer than the others’. She looked over to see him leaned against the truck, facing her rather than the group as a whole. “You really should come tonight. These things, they tend to get boring with the same old people, and...it’d be nice to see a new face around, you know? Don’t really get a lot of those out here.”

Maka blinked rapidly, unsure how to respond. Here she was, once again, mostly alone with Notorious Bad Boy Soul Evans personally asking her to come to a party. She’d just about come to terms with letting herself feel the way she did for him, but hadn’t yet figured out how to handle it. All she could do was try to swallow down her nerves enough to nod.

“I, uh...I’ll definitely think about it,” she said. He smiled.

“Alright, cool.”

* * *

When Maka arrived home that evening, her father was dead asleep once more. He was dressed as though he’d been planning to go out, but the state of him suggested he’d passed out before getting both his shoes on. She sighed, but didn’t spare him a second glance. She needed to bathe...and think.

She settled into the water, cooler than she normally took it to compensate for the ambient heat. The dollar-store bubbles started to fizz away quickly, but the ones that remained sparkled in the dim bathroom lighting. She laid back, draping one arm over the edge of the tub, and stared at the ceiling.

She sank deeper into the bubbles when she remembered the bonfire party. All of her friends had asked her to go, not just him. Tsubaki in particular was insistent on her attending. She understood her best friend’s concern for her social health, but...God, how was she supposed to deal with the awkwardness of it all? What was she supposed to wear? Were these things formal? Was she expected to wear cowboy boots? She owned a pair, thanks to an extremely short-lived middle school horse obsession, but they hurt her feet. Would she have to know how to dance? Was that required? She didn’t even like country music.

She groaned. It was probably easier just to stay home. No way she was going to text Liz just to ask her how bonfire parties worked. She’d just go to the lake again next time they went. It had turned out to be pretty fun, after all.

Once she’d gotten sufficiently clean and purged all thoughts of the party from her head, she changed into a pair of pajamas. She searched through the kitchen cabinets for some kind of food, and her stomach dropped when she heard her father’s panicked voice.

“Maka, sweetheart, where have you been?!”

She gritted her teeth. “Oh,  _ now _ you notice when I’m gone?” She was surprised at the venom that dripped from her voice--normally she at least tried to disguise her hatred for him, for the sake of civility--but she couldn’t go back from it. She turned around with a package of ramen and caught him staring at her, mouth stupidly flopping as he tried to form some response. She ignored him and worked on making her food.

He sighed and started to step towards her. “You are okay, anyway, right, Pumpkin? I was so worried about you. I had no idea where you were.”

“I was out with some friends,” she said, dodging his attempted hug to retrieve a cooking pot. “I have those, you know.”

“Friends...?”

“Yes, Dad--”

“Were any of them boys?” The confusion on his face turned to white-knuckled panic. “Maka, were you out with boys?!”

She slammed the pot onto the stove.

“What does it matter?!” she cried.

“I just don’t want you getting hu--”

“I don’t know if you  _ noticed, _ but I'm an adult! I can go out with whoever I want!”

“You-you…” he stammered incomprehensibly for a moment. “W-well, you still live under my roof!”

All semblance of control disappeared; her vision faded into red and all the rage she’d repressed over the years burst forward. “ _ Your _ roof?! You haven't been able to keep a job long enough to pay for  _ groceries! _ I don’t even know how we still have electricity to  _ cook _ , but if it wasn’t for me taking whatever stupid odd jobs this backwards middle-of-nowhere town offers, we’d be freaking  _ homeless! _ You might as well just hand the damn title to the bank once I leave!”

Spirit stared at her, absolutely dumbstruck. Maka felt tears burning her face and her nails digging into her palms. Before he could try to respond, she stormed into her room, the door making a sickening  _ crack _ as she slammed it. The doorknob had no lock, so to keep from having to face her father, she dragged a small bookcase in front of the door.

She threw herself on the bed to cry, ignoring the hesitant knocks on her door. Staying here was a mistake. This was her own personal Hell. She had to get out of here, to college, to the city, to the  _ gas station _ , she didn’t care. She just couldn’t stay here.

Her phone buzzed on her nightstand. She sat up, dried her face, and found Liz’s contact. Whatever awkwardness might ensue at a party, it was worlds away from this.

_ I changed my mind. Can you still come get me? _

Liz’s reply was instant.

_ Yeah, no problem. Be there in ten. _

Great. Now to survive her drunk, heartbroken father for ten minutes.

“Maka,” Spirit sobbed against the door. “I’m so sorry. You’re absolutely right; I’ve been a terrible father, and what I did to you and your Mama...Maka please talk to me, I’m so sorry.”

“Just leave me alone!” she yelled back. Her phone buzzed again. This time it was a message from Tsubaki.

_ Hey, are you okay? Liz and I are coming to get you. _

A moment later, another one.

_ Is it your dad again? _

She sighed as her father continued to wail.

_ Yeah _ , she responded. She tossed the phone aside and got up to sift through her closet. Might as well figure out what to wear before Liz showed up. She didn’t have much in the way of “cute” clothes; a few casual dresses, a crushed velvet Christmas dress she wasn’t sure she’d ever worn…

“Maka...if...if you have a boyfriend…” he could barely get his words out past his sniffling. She huffed.

“None of your business even if I did,” she mumbled. She didn’t see the point in engaging him directly now; it would only make him cry more. After poring over dresses and jackets for a few more minutes, she gave up and threw on a tee shirt and jeans. She was trying to escape, not to impress anyone. She had a feeling this might be more fitting to the occasion, anyhow. As she sought out stray hairties around her room, she eyed the cowboy boots collecting dust in her closet.

She shook her head. Not worth the agony.

She plopped down on the bed as she tied her hair up in pigtails. Now to wait. She checked the one notification she had--just a sad face from Tsubaki--and laid down to watch for the next one. Her father’s sobs and slurred pleas quieted as the minutes dragged on, and eventually, she heard only snoring. She sighed deeply, putting her face in her hands. How was she supposed to live with this for three more months? The constant stress was going to kill her before college had a chance to.

She had Liz’s text open before the phone had finished buzzing.

_ We’re here. Make a run for it, girlie. _

She smiled wryly, then shoved the phone in her pocket. She grabbed her house keys off the nightstand and looked at the door. She wasn’t getting out that way now, unless she wanted to risk waking her father...she glanced at the rather large window on the far side of the room.

It took her a moment to push the screen out without making too much noise, but she managed. She popped out the better part of the bottom corner and squeezed her legs through, sliding out and onto the ground. She had just enough logical thought left to reach through and close the window, before she turned and made a break for Liz’s truck.

Tsubaki was standing outside the vehicle panicking.

“Maka, are you alright? Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Did--”

“It’s alright.” She gave her friend a hug, though she was unsure who she was trying to comfort more. Pulling back, she forced a smile. “I’m alright. Let’s just get out of here.”

“I second that,” Liz said. “Come on, girls, let’s go party!”


	4. Night Life

It felt like the night was closing in. As Liz’s truck rattled down the road, the darkness outside seemed to slowly creep towards the dirt, narrowing the visible horizon. The dust obscuring the rear windshield only served to make the open plains somehow even more claustrophobic.

The truth was, Maka didn’t regret her last-minute decision to attend this party. She had no qualms about what she’d done, leaving her father unconscious against her bedroom door without so much as a note. He probably wouldn’t remember once he woke up anyway.

She was, however, starting to feel some degree of anxiety regarding the party itself. When she wasn’t wondering how she could feel suffocated in such a wide open space, she was quietly nitpicking her outfit choice. Sure, it had been rushed, given her haste to leave, but would it suffice? Was she going to show up, in jeans and a tee shirt, just to find a dozen girls in tight dresses and uncomfortable shoes?

“Maka, really, are you okay?” Tsubaki put a hand on Maka’s arm and cocked her head. Maka responded with a tight-lipped smile and a nod.

“Yeah. It’s nothing new, you know that.” It was a lie; for all the pain and stress her father had caused her, she’d never snapped quite like that. Tsubaki, however, didn’t pick up on it.

“Hey, just a couple more months and you’ll be out of here for good, right?” She said with an encouraging smile. “Then you won’t have to deal with it anymore.”

“Yeah, unless your college roommate ends up being total trash.” Tsubaki elbowed Liz, who backpedaled with a nervous giggle. “But, I mean, that’s totally unlikely, mostly all college kids do is sleep anyway!”

Maka chuckled softly. She truly appreciated Liz’s attempt to help even though she wasn’t familiar with the situation. As an afterthought, she glanced at Liz's outfit--a tied up flannel shirt and a miniskirt. Her stomach sank, until she saw Tsubaki's tank top and shorts.

She turned back to the window. Great; fifty-fifty chance she was going to be the odd one out. Oh well, at least she wasn't the only one wearing denim.

A flickering orange light appeared in the distance, dimly lighting the hallmark grain silo. Liz pulled off the road and parked next to a cluster of cars as old as hers. Maka licked her lips as she stepped down onto the dirt and looked toward the rather large bonfire. She'd half-expected to hear music and the roar of the flame from here, but the squeal of an amused partygoer was all that made it to her ears.

She kept a few paces behind Tsubaki and Liz, heart pounding. The smell of smoke and the pounding beat of country-rock music became more prominent with every step they took; through the noise, a voice called out.

“Hey, there you guys are!”

Maka looked up to see Soul striding towards them.

“What happened? You guys left in a huge rush, everything okay?”

"Yeah, sorry,” Tsubaki said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Everything’s fine now, we just had to go and…”

“Hey, you did decide to come.” Maka’s cheeks flushed when he spotted her behind the other girls and smiled. She hadn’t figured out how to respond before Liz stepped aside and tugged her forward. Face to face with him, she scrambled for words.

“Um...I...well…” she shuffled her feet and giggled awkwardly. “Guess it just...seemed more fun than being at home.”

“That’s the spirit.” He grinned and turned, gesturing for her to follow. “Come on, the party’s more fun when you’re actually  _ in _ it. You guys already missed ‘Star trying to jump through the bonfire.”

“Oh my God, did he live?” Liz did not sound legitimately concerned.

“Unfortunately.”

The fire was large enough that Maka could feel its heat before she’d gotten right next to it. To her pleasant surprise, though, it seemed contained; someone had gone through the trouble of digging a fire pit and lining it with large rocks, and a truck was parked nearby with several buckets of water in the bed. The air became thick with smoke, and every so often she’d catch the telltale whiff of pot through the burning wood and hay.

She stuck close to Tsubaki as they followed Soul. Not long after they’d entered the heart of the party, Liz spoke up.

“Oh! Patty, there you are! Hey Tsubaki, let's go do some socializing or something.”

“Oh, but waitwaitwaiwait…” Tsubaki’s protests were futile; Liz eagerly grabbed her arm and dragged her off. Maka reached for Tsubaki, but that, too, was useless. She now stood alone in an unfamiliar place, unsure where exactly she was supposed to be. Should she follow them? Find some food? Stand awkwardly on the edge of the area like she always did at social gatherings?

She looked over at the only person left. Soul looked after Liz and Tsubaki as well, seeming just as confused as Maka.

“Well, she certainly seemed excited...well, I guess I’ll at least show you where to find the food. Come on.”

Uncertain of any other plan of action, she obeyed. He guided her to the other side of the fire, where she discovered someone had actually brought a folding table. It was lined with the basic party foods--hot dogs, buns, condiments, and of course, s’mores ingredients--as well as a bowl of something most likely alcoholic and several twelve-packs of soda. She had to admit, she hadn’t expected for this party to be this...planned out.

“You want a beer or something? Oh, wait, shit. That’s right, you don’t drink, huh?”

She just shook her head. Soul shrugged and made a sweeping gesture toward the table. “Well, there’s all kinds of other options. If you’re not looking to get drunk, though, I’d stay away from anything that’s not in a sealed container.”

Maka nodded and looked around, unsure of what to say. It was much less populated than the lake had been, maybe two dozen people altogether. A handful were perched around the fire, roasting their food of choice; a few couples spun each other around to a bouncy bluegrass tune; and the rest stood in small groups, chatting idly between sips of soda and beer. Everybody seemed so at ease, even though they were all in different cliques growing up. She wondered if she’d be able to find a place as easily.

“So,” Soul said, cracking open a soda can, “thought you weren't a party person.”

She shrugged. “I, uh...well, I'm not. Or...I never have been, anyway. Like I said, this sounded more fun than...being home.” She looked down, tracing lines in the dirt with her toes. In the silence that followed, she braced herself for the inevitable “are you okay?” conversation.

“So what do you usually do for fun then?”

Her head shot up. Initially, she was confused that he opted to skip the small talk about her home life; however, with the pain of the argument still fresh in her chest, she pushed the confusion aside.

“You’re gonna laugh,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. He gave her a toothy grin and leaned against the table.

“Try me.” He took a swig of his drink.

“I um…” She shrank back with an awkward giggle. “I read, mostly.”

He raised his eyebrows from behind the soda can. To her relief, he didn’t laugh. Instead, he swirled the liquid around the can, staring at her thoughtfully.

“Hmm...introverted, Lit major,  _ and _ you read for fun? Classic awkward bookworm.”

“Hey!” she cried. “I am not awkward!”

“Not awkward. Yeah, right.” His sputtering laughter ignited her pride further.

“What, do you spend every waking moment at these things? You don’t ever need a break from people?”

“Sure I do. But you can’t really call it ‘taking a break from people’ if you don’t spend time with them in the first place.”

She crossed her arms. “So what do  _ you _ do for fun, then? Besides party your life away?”

A strange expression flitted across his face--the corners of his mouth turned, but it wasn’t his usual smile or smarmy smirk. It was tighter, not quite a grimace but not a positive emotion, either. He looked down, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong. When he looked back up at her, though, he wore his signature devil-may-care expression.

“I stay at home in my boxers and watch crime show reruns,” he said matter-of-factly.

She scoffed. “Hey, I told  _ you _ the truth.”

Someone called for him before he could respond. He looked over at a group of boys by the fire and raised his hand quickly in recognition. The folding table protested as he pushed himself off of it. He approached Maka, stopping close enough to her that she could hear the subtle squeaking of his leather jacket.

“Maybe I’ll show you sometime,” he said in a tantalizing murmur. “At least try to have some fun while you’re here, alright?” And with that, he flashed a smile and attended to his friends. She grabbed a can of Coke and made a beeline for her friends, cursing herself for the blush that burned her cheeks.

She found Liz and Tsubaki amidst a small, rumbling crowd. Liz seemed particularly excited about whatever was going on.

“COME ON, PATTY,” she screamed, hoisting her beer in the air. “YOU GOT THIS! DON’T LET THIS PIGSKIN-THROWING POSER TAKE YOU DOWN!”

“Hey, what’s um...happening?” Maka leaned towards Tsubaki, eyeing Liz warily. Tsubaki stepped aside and gestured forward.

“Well…”

At the center of the hilariously enthusiastic crowd was Patty, locked in an arm-wrestling match with the high school’s star linebacker. She appeared to be winning, too.

Maka smiled and shook her head at the absurdity of the scene. The energy of the crowd was infectious, and she soon found herself cheering Patty on between sips of her Coke. The crowd erupted as Patty pinned her opponent’s arm; Maka raised her soda can right along with them.

As Liz was cackling and taking money from a couple of unfortunate spectators, Maka and Tsubaki dispersed with the rest. They found seats around the fire in flimsy lawn chairs, armed with hot dogs and marshmallows, and listened as people chatted and gossiped.

The food wasn’t fantastic and she kept setting her marshmallows on fire, but she was so hungry it hardly mattered. The taste of ash barely registered until her third s’more. By then, she had relaxed significantly, even joining in some of the bonfire conversation--well, the parts that didn’t involve fishing and “nailing a ten-point buck.”

“He would be a terrible congressman!” she said indignantly to a boy a few chairs away from her. Taking a bite from her snack, she continued, “First off, he has  _ no _ grasp of basic economics. He only cares about what’ll make  _ him _ the most money. He can’t even pronounce ‘constituents’!”

“Jeez, Maka, you’ve been here less than an hour and you’re already talking politics?” Liz leaned around Tsubaki to raise an eyebrow at her. “No wonder you’re so strung out all the time. Here, hit this.”

Maka had to squint in the flickering firelight to make out the items Liz was extending to her--a lighter and a brand-new blunt.

“Oh! Uhh…” she pointed to Tsubaki. “a-aren’t you skipping or...s-something…”

Tsubaki shook her head. “It’s okay, I don’t really--”

“Ehh, she’s perfectly content with a contact high.” Liz lifted her hand slightly, urging Maka to take it. “Come on, you don’t have to drink, but you should try to chill a little somehow. You don’t have anything against pot, do you?”

“No, not...really…” she muttered.  _ Nothing against the pot itself _ , she thought,  _ just the people who can’t talk about anything else… _

She took the lighter and blunt from Liz. Strangely, she got a rush just from holding them. God, her dad would kill her if…

Her dad. Her jaw tightened the second he came into her head. What did it matter what he thought? He was  _ always _ under the influence; who was he to tell her what she could and couldn’t experiment with? Besides, she wasn’t driving, like he still did while drunk. What harm could come of it?

She heard a chair being dragged through the dirt; it stopped just to her left, opposite Tsubaki, and someone plopped down into it hard enough to make the plastic creak.

“Alright, conversation on the other side is all barns and baseball. What are you guys up to?”

“Trying to get somebody to loosen up a bit,” Liz said. “I think she’s having a minor crisis.”

“Ah, a first-timer. Go figure.”

She returned his amused smirk with a scowl. “I am not having a crisis. Jeez. It’s just...is it kind of the same feeling as...being drunk? You said it yourself, it’s not like I do this every day…”

Soul and Liz both snickered. “Not even close,” Soul assured her. “It’s not that hard; you light one end and inhale through the other. Here, hand it to me, I’ll show you.”

“Nooooope!” Liz called out. “You drew the DD straw tonight. No weed for you.”

Soul scoffed. “Buzzkill. Go ahead,” he said to Maka. “It’ll calm you down.”

She looked down at the paper roll in her hand and took a deep breath. Well, if there was any time to experiment, it was now while she had virtually no responsibilities.

She lit the end, tried to inhale, and choked the instant the smoke hit her throat. Tsubaki launched into Mother-Duck mode, rubbing Maka’s back and practically shoving a water bottle into her mouth. Maka tried to pat her friend’s shoulder reassuringly, but it was difficult to focus on much of anything while violently choking to death.

When the coughing finally quieted down, she could hear Liz laughing herself to tears. She accepted the water bottle from Tsubaki and drank half of it in one go.

“Jesus, you alright there?” Soul asked, barely containing his own laughter. Maka groaned.

“I’m guessing that’s not supposed to happen.”

Soul shook his head; he seemed to be hardly breathing from the stress of suppressing his amusement. Embarrassment flooded her face in what she guessed was a brilliant crimson. Soul put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Okay,” he said, still amused but no longer fighting off laughter, “I think that warrants a second try. That was awful. Don’t worry, most newbies choke the first time.”

“That’s what he said!” someone yelled.

“Shut the fuck up, Travis.” A few laughs rippled through the partygoers. Soul leaned towards Maka and lowered his voice. “Try inhaling a little slower this time,” he told her. He patted her shoulder; she wasn’t sure whether to take it as comforting or patronizing. Regardless, she tried again and took his advice.

Soul and Liz cheered when she successfully exhaled a cloud of smoke; Tsubaki chimed in with a small “yay!” Maka handed the items off to the next person and sipped at her water. The effects hit her surprisingly quickly--it couldn’t have been more than mere minutes before she started to feel lightheaded. It was like her skull was buzzing, and she felt she was moving more slowly than before. She quietly sipped her water as the conversation around her buzzed on, trying in vain to combat the sudden dryness in her mouth.

She didn’t realize she’d become fixated on the fire until Soul nudged her out of her trace.

“How you feeling?” he asked. She nodded and licked her lips.

“I’m alright, I think.” It was the vaguest possible answer one could give, but the only one that came to her head. He gave a short laugh. She looked around and tore at her brain for something, anything, to say.

“So…” she started, running with the first thought that came to her, “is...this what these parties are? Sitting around a fire and drinking and talking, I mean?”

“Eh, for the most part. Sometimes the douchiest guy will bring a guitar. Why? You bored?”

“N-no! Not really, I just--”

“You wanna dance?”

She almost gasped out loud. She scrambled for a reply, heat rushing to her face again. “Oh, I-I don’t know, I’ve never really…um...”

“Come on, it’s summertime. You’re at a party and you’re not even drinking.” He stood up, leaned down towards her and whispered, “You’re arguing politics with a redneck. Live a little, won’t you?”

She shifted in her seat, then lifted her head and gave him a small smile. “Okay, I guess. I...don’t really know how to dance, though…”

A new song started on the radio, opening with a twangy guitar. Soul looked toward the radio, smiled, and held his hand out to her. “It’s alright, this song is perfect for a two-step. It’s really easy.”

She took a deep breath and took his hand. He lead her to a more remote spot where they could still hear the music and turned to face her.

“Alright, with most dances you’ll start in the same position. Put your hand on my shoulder, right here…” He placed her right hand on his shoulder and took the other delicately in his. She felt his fingers brush down her arm before he placed his hand on her waist.

It was difficult to focus on his instructions, her head buzzing with the chemical high and all of her other thoughts occupied with the sensation of him. His hand resting on her waist, the other cradling hers, the well-worn leather of his jacket under her fingers…

The dance was simple enough--a repetitive shuffling of the feet, really--and though she didn’t understand what he meant about “feeling the rhythm,” she was able to fall into the pattern before long. Her heart should have been breaking her ribcage, being this close to him; yet even as she was embraced by a woodsy cologne, she remained calm. For once, she was able to enjoy his closeness without her anxiety getting in the way.

“See?” he murmured. “It’s just like...walking across the dance floor.”

She nodded, still stuck in the haze of soft leather and body heat. They moved quietly for a while, before Soul’s mouth tightened.

“Call me crazy, but I’m starting to think your friend might not like me.”

She looked in the direction he was staring. Tsubaki watched them from her seat by the fire, arms crossed. She waved at Maka with a tense smile; Maka managed to lose her rhythm returning the gesture, tripping over Soul’s foot. He caught her easily and laughed, giving her a moment to right herself.

“I don’t think Tsubaki has an issue with you,” she told him as she started to mirror his footsteps again. “I mean, she doesn’t really...hate anyone. She just worries about me, that’s all.”

Soul raised an eyebrow at her.

“Oh!” She shook her head rapidly. “No, no, n-not because of you or anything! It’s not you at all, I’m just kind of...a little...um…”

“Relax,” he said as he squeezed her hand. “I know what all the rumors say. You don’t have to shield me or anything.”

She looked down at their feet. The song had changed to a slower tune, and their movements had changed accordingly; they now swayed gently to the music, hardly moving their feet at all.

“It must suck, huh?” she muttered. “Being the center of the town rumor mill, I mean.” She felt some shame for not coming to this realization sooner. She’d had the fleeting thought that maybe he wasn’t what everyone made him out to be, sure. But for a moment, she thought about what it must really be like, constantly hearing people talk about you, spreading stories and half-truths at your expense, solely out of boredom.

Soul, however, only shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Actually, it’s kinda cool. I get to learn something new about myself all the time.”

He took his hand from her waist and twirled her around once; Maka tripped over her feet and fell against him, collapsing into a fit of laughter against his chest. He laughed as well; whether it was with her or at her, she wasn’t sure, but for the moment, it didn’t matter.

Her laughter devolved into another coughing fit and she excused herself to get back to her water bottle.

She made it back to the bonfire and dropped rather unceremoniously into her chair, swallowing down water like she had been dehydrated for her whole life. It soothed the immediate dryness in her mouth and throat, though the soreness from coughing remained. She felt Soul place a hand on her shoulder.

“You alright?” he asked, taking his previous seat to her left.

She nodded and let out a sigh as she finished off the water bottle. “I’m okay now.” She turned to him and gave him a reassuring smile. He returned the smile and patted her shoulder.

“You’re not a bad dancer, by the way.”

She looked down at her lap with a nervous laugh. By the time she’d pushed her flustered thoughts aside and figured out how to respond, the conversation had moved on, so she studied the empty bottle in her lap. She tried to suppress the giggles that bubbled from her, but had only moderate success. She found it quite frustrating, actually. A hand on her other shoulder drew her attention.

“Are you okay, Maka?” Tsubaki asked softly. She nodded; the movement somehow made her slightly nauseous.

“I’m fine, Tsubaki, I promise.”

The smile her friend gave her before returning to the bonfire chit-chat told Maka that she had not convinced her.

The thought slipped from her mind before long. The buzzing in her skull had become more intense. It felt as though she was rocking in her chair, but when she examined herself, she found she wasn’t moving at all. All of her movements seemed terribly slowed, and time itself warped; she recalled dancing with Soul, watching Patty arm wrestle a football player. She remembered getting here in the first place, but couldn’t figure out if it had been two hours ago or twelve.

The chatter around her faded into an incomprehensible hum as she stared at her hand. She bent and flexed her fingers, studying the way the knuckles and the tendons moved. It occurred to her for the first time how strange fingers were, these odd and yet perfectly designed appendages that set them apart from most other animals. 

Did those other animals ever look at humans and think them odd? What weird creatures, almost completely hairless, having all these extra appendages and yet no tails. How did  _ she _ not notice how weird they were until now?

Soul nudged her out of her trance...either a few minutes or an hour later; she wasn’t quite sure. She gave him a questioning look, hoping she didn’t look as woozy as she felt. He didn’t comment on her composure, only pointed to her other side. Liz was holding the blunt and lighter out to her again.

“Wanna hit it again?” she asked, a wisp of smoke escaping her lips. “How are you feeling?”

“Yeah, I’m just…” Why was it taking so much effort to form coherent words? Her mouth just refused to move when she wanted it to, no matter how hard she tried. Time was warping, her body was fighting her, and she couldn’t look away from her damn fingers. Her diaphragm contracted of its own accord and she started giggling again. “Fingers are just...so weird! Yeah, I don’t feel so, um…”

She needed water. And maybe something else to eat; she’d probably eaten more than her body weight in marshmallows by now, and yet she felt like she was starving. She stood up, only for her legs to give out from underneath her. A pair of arms appeared beneath hers, just stopping her from hitting the ground, and Tsubaki rushed to her side fussing. In response to the frustration and the embarrassment of the scene, Maka could only continue laughing.

“Oh, I think you're done,” Soul said as he pulled her to her feet. “Liz, could you throw me your keys? I should probably take her home. There's no way she's staying up on my bike.”

“Oh, maybe she should stay at my house instead,” Tsubaki suggested. “You know, just...just in case. So she’s not alone.”

A silence followed, though perhaps it felt longer in Maka’s head than it really was. Something flew past her head and she heard the  _ chink _ of Soul catching a set of keys.

“Alright, good idea. I’ll just drop you both off, then. Come on.”

Soul put one of Maka’s arms around his shoulders, keeping the other around her waist, and led her toward Liz’s truck. She considered shrugging him off--she could walk just fine on her own,  _ thank you very much _ \--but in her intoxicated state, she found the contact calming. Her head lulled towards him. The smell of wood smoke clung to his hair and clothes, but beneath it was the same old smell of worn leather and exhaust.

Her companions stopped walking; there was some muttering and Soul released her, the support of his arms replaced by Tsubaki’s steadying grip. She heard the cab door screech open, and the two helped her inside.

“Alright, Short Stack,” Soul started. Maka cut him off.

“I am not short!”

“Yeah,” he scoffed, “and I bet you’re not high as a kite, either, huh? Listen, just let me know if we need to pull over or something, okay? Liz’ll kill me if I bring this piece of shit back to her covered in puke.”

“Not sick.” She said it with a little more force than she meant to as she settled into the middle seat. “Just a little...dizzy…”

Tsubaki climbed in after her. She thought she heard him mutter “that’s what I’m worried about” before closing the passenger door, but had no response.

She spent most of the ride in a queasy haze, alternating between short spurts of laughter and zoning out into the darkness ahead. She panicked momentarily upon seeing the dashboard clock read somewhere around five, but her friends assured her it was off. The relief was short-lived, as the realization that she didn’t even know what time it was concerned her even more.

“Jesus,” Soul said with a snicker. “How are you even…you took  _ one _ hit.”

“I took two!” Maka replied indignantly.

“One and a half. That first one sucked.”

Tsubaki chided him about being nice; he put his hands up briefly in surrender, but his amused smirk remained.

It only took a few more turns to reach their destination, but to Maka it felt like hours. It took her a moment to even realize they’d pulled into the driveway. Tsubaki made her exit and reached up to help Maka down, but Maka first turned to Soul. It was the social norm to say something to someone when they drove you home, right? Thank them, exchange pleasantries? Say something nice?

“Um...so…” Whatever she had been planning to say disappeared completely as all her mental efforts suddenly focused on forcing down any social awkwardness. Soul gave her an amused smile and punched her shoulder lightly.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Now go on, drink some water. Get some sleep. Don’t worry, you’ll see me around.”

She smiled and giggled stupidly, turning away and letting Tsubaki help her out of the truck. She shuffled down the driveway toward the darkened house, Tsubaki helping her keep her balance and quietly fretting over what she’d done to herself. She smiled wryly to herself--what  _ had _ she done? This was almost pathetic; surely millions of people didn’t react like this to a little pot.

Tsubaki fumbled with the front door key as Maka leaned against the house. All she really knew was that water and sleep sounded like a fantastic idea.

She heard the truck drive off as Tsubaki got the door open and guided her inside.


	5. Now or Never

The first thing Maka became aware of as she waded into consciousness was the profound dryness in her mouth, as if it was full of sand. Her eyes fluttered open, and she was greeted by flowered wallpaper. Her heart skipped when she realized this was not her room. It took her a few seconds to gather the memories of the previous night and realize she was in Tsubaki’s spare bedroom. By the time her brain had caught up, the mild panic had pulled her into a fully awake state.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” came Tsubaki’s voice from behind her. “I was starting to think you’d never wake up.”

Maka rolled over and winced. Evidently, she’d managed to contort herself into an odd sleeping position and had lost feeling in one foot and the entirety of her right arm. What had she done to herself?

Tsubaki was perched on the edge of the bed with a large mug. She was fully dressed and put-together, which told Maka she had probably been asleep for some time.

“What time…” she couldn’t finish the question; it was difficult to speak with her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. The way her voice sounded, she didn’t really want to keep talking anyway. She groaned and forced herself into a sitting position. Tsubaki just smiled sympathetically and handed her the mug, which was filled with water.

“It’s about one in the afternoon,” she said. “I figured you’d need all the rest you could get after last night. How are you feeling, anyway?”

Maka finished the water at an inhuman pace. She took a moment to do a mental system check—and appreciate the glorious feeling of rehydration—before answering. She grimaced as circulation finally returned to her arm.

“Right now, kind of like my arm’s been cut off and reattached—badly,” she said, forming weak fists in an attempt to speed up the process. “But fine aside from that. It’s one in the  _ afternoon _ ?”

Tsubaki nodded. “You were up pretty late, between all the snacks and the laughing fits. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were having the time of your life running your fingers through the carpet.” She giggled softly. Maka forced a laugh.

“Well, do me a favor,” she said. “Don’t ever let me do that again.”

Tsubaki stood and helped Maka up. “I’ll keep that in mind. Come on, I’ll make some tea.”

Maka sat down at the table, shaking off the last of the fog and the pins-and-needles as the smell of aromatic tea wafted through the kitchen. It was only here that she realized she’d fallen asleep in the same outfit she was wearing the previous night. Even fully awakened, she couldn’t remember everything from the party; however, that was probably for the best, as the vague memory of her intoxicated behavior made her cringe.

“It seemed like you were having fun last night,” Tsubaki said, seating herself across from Maka and setting down two cups of tea. “You sure spent a lot of time with Soul.”

Maka raised her eyebrows, cup raised to her lips. “I barely spent any time with him,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “We talked a little, we...danced...and then he drove us home when I got too stupid to function.” She shrugged and sipped her tea, the picture of feigned nonchalance. Tsubaki gave a short laugh.

“Well, it’s good to see you out and socializing for once. Even if it did get a little silly.”

Maka shook her head with a strained laugh. “Man, how did I get that messed up? And how can people do that every single  _ day _ ? I don’t get the hype.”

“The people that do it every day are probably more used to it, for starters,” Tsubaki told her. “Besides, I guess it affects everyone differently. Maybe you just don’t handle it well.”

If  _ that _ wasn’t the truth…

“Heh. Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna be doing it again. Socializing, fine, but I think I’ll leave getting high to the stoners.” Tsubaki agreed, and they spent a few moments in comfortable silence. As Maka flipped through her clearest memories, silently conceding that she had enjoyed herself overall, one stuck out.

The brief conversation between her and Soul as they had shuffled across the “dance floor” echoed in her mind.

_ I know what the rumors say... _

Perhaps it wasn’t what was said that stuck in her mind, per se, but the implications of it. Small-town folk liked to talk, and often paid little mind to who heard. As long as someone heard. 

_ It must suck… _

And after all, it wasn’t like she didn’t know the feeling. Anyone could end up as fodder for the local grapevine; she’d even go so far as to say everyone did eventually. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered what kind of person he really was under all the leather and spikes...maybe it was worth talking to him again later on.

“What's on your mind? You're being awfully quiet.”

Maka froze. There was another thing to consider--her best friend had been quite vocal about her opinion on Soul, and had already expressed concern over Maka even entertaining thoughts of him. How was she going to explain that not only was she attracted to this man, but that she had spent an inordinate amount of time justifying that attraction, and now was considering digging herself an even deeper grave? Tsubaki was a trusting and supportive friend, no doubt, but there was no way she'd approve of this.

She set her tea cup down and took a breath. From the day Tsubaki had offered Maka a friendship, they'd told each other everything. They'd never kept secrets from one another, and there was no point in starting now.

“I've...been thinking.”

“About what?”

She labored over her word choices. “About...well, about...Soul. Or, about something he said.”

“What, did he say something bad?”

“No, no! Actually, um…”

Tsubaki’s face turned from concern, to confusion, and then finally to disappointment. “Oh, Maka, tell me you’re not falling for him.”

“Well, I like him…” Tsubaki began to stammer out a litany of worries, but Maka insisted she hear her out. “I...like him. Or, at least, I don’t think he’s this terrible person you’re worried he is. At the very least...I think it might be worth giving him the time of day.”

“Maka, I don’t think that’s a good idea…I mean, you barely know him.”

“I know. That's what I'm saying; I think I want to get to know him.”

“I just don't know if it's safe. You know what--”

“Yes, know what everyone says about him, Tsubaki. But I know what they said about me, too. Remember that algebra class that  _ nobody _ could ace except me? Everyone said I bribed the teacher. Half the school said I wore skirts to get male attention and the other half was convinced I was a lesbian. People said I must be on Adderall because that was the only way I could possibly keep up with all my schoolwork.” She stopped and took a breath to steady herself. She hadn't meant to get this worked up. “Have you ever actually talked to him yourself? Maybe he’s a little rough around the edges, but...you know these people make up drama like it’s a national pastime. You can't take anything they say at face value. I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least.”

Tsubaki stayed quiet for a minute. “What if your dad finds out?”

Maka scoffed. “Since when does he notice anything about my life, Tsubaki? I can come home three days late and he'll ask me how I slept. It's way too easy to keep stuff from him.”

“Well, I guess that's true.” Tsubaki stared into her teacup, and finally sighed. “Well, if your heart is set on it, then I can’t stop you. If that's what you want, then…” she beamed a supportive smile at Maka. “I’ll be behind you all the way.”

Maka smiled back. “That's all I ask.”

* * *

A few days later, Maka was standing in the youth group meeting room. She, Tsubaki, and the Thompsons stood in a small circle as they waited for the meeting to start. The sun shone brightly through the windows; it was deathly hot outside, but a dust-covered air conditioner kept the room at a pleasant temperature.

As the girls chattered on about some minor current event, Maka bounced on the balls of her feet. She'd spent more time on her appearance than she cared to admit, picking out a skirt and a tee-shirt that didn't look too worn, carefully brushing her hair into a high ponytail...Tsubaki, with her everlasting patience, had fielded a dozen and a half concerns throughout the ordeal--was she trying too hard? Not hard enough? Did she look too '1990s cheerleader movie'?   
  
As for what she would say? She'd rehearsed like it was her dissertation. She ran the lines through her head even now to make sure she didn't slip up.   
  
_ "Hey, Soul. Could I talk to you for a minute? Now listen, do me a favor and let me finish before you say anything, alright? Okay..." _   
  
She had no idea how he was going to react, no clue if this was going to end in more awkwardness, but she was willing to take that chance. She'd prepared herself for any possible response. Her heart was racing, but she was here now, and she was ready.

Soul entered looking even more disheveled than usual with quite the scowl on his face. His expression softened as he approached the girls, and he gave Maka a tired smile. Her stomach tied itself in knots and her mind started to race, but she forced herself to keep her cool.

“Hey there, Short Stack,” he said. “Haven’t heard from you since the party. I was starting to get worried. How are you holding up?”

She gave him a small smile, willing her heartbeat to slow. “Great! You know, slept a lot, but I’m...pretty much back to normal now!” She laughed awkwardly. What kind of response was that?

Soul chuckled. “Well, that’s good to hear. See? They’re not so bad, right? More fun than curling up with some book all night.”

“Heh. Well, I don’t know about that.”

Soul put his hand up to his chest in a mock display of pain. Maka giggled, but her mind was overrun with anxiety. Was this flirting? Was this how it worked? She was terrible at this.

Soul joined the discussion with the other girls; Maka watched how easily he inserted himself into the conversation. He made talking to people seem so simple, so fluid. Everything about him was so laid-back, like he never had to worry or even think about a damn thing. The exact opposite of herself, and everything she wished she could be.

She was so not ready for this.

The pastor entered the room with a warm smile, and the group dispersed and took their seats. As everyone got settled, Maka took a moment to steady her breathing. Oh, how was she supposed to pull this off?

The pastor settled into a folding chair and opened up his binder in his lap.

“Okay,” he said, “last week I asked you lovely children a question. ‘Where else would you like to live, and why?’ Hopefully you've thought about it a bit; why don't we start by hearing some of those responses? Would anyone like to go first?”

Patty’s hand shot up. “Ooh! I’d want to be wherever my sister is because without her I’d be bored forever!” She laughed gleefully; Liz groaned. The pastor accepted the answer, however, and gestured for Liz to take her turn.

“Somewhere with a beach,” she said with a shrug.

“Alright. And why’s that?”

“Well, I guess because beaches are warm and beautiful and I’d be able to get an awesome tan.”

He nodded slowly, crossing his legs as he turned to Tsubaki.

“Oh...oh, is it my turn? O-okay…” She cleared her throat softly and began a long explanation about her fascination with Japan--its culture, its customs, the general beauty of the place...Maka felt awful for zoning out during her friend’s presentation, but her mind was terribly occupied. She watched Soul napping in the armchair across the room, feeling her already flimsy composure slip.

She was still internally panicking when she realized Tsubaki had stopped talking, which made it her turn to answer.

“Oh!” she grabbed at the first proverbial straw she found. “I'd like to live in a...moderately sized city. Doesn't really...matter where, I guess. Just, um...big enough that I can walk to wherever I need to be, but not...you know, Detroit.” She finished with a forced laugh. The preacher nodded.

“Alright, seems like we have a group of fairly flexible young adults. That's always a good sign. And…” he turned to Soul with a poorly-hidden look of distaste. “What about you, son?”

Soul didn't even open his eyes. “Penthouse in downtown NYC, no contest. Lights, parties, plasma TV screens, all the hallmarks of advanced civilization.”

The pastor pursed his lips. Maka could see his face starting to redden, but he composed himself before addressing the group as a whole again. Turning some pages in his binder, he started his miniature sermon. Today's lesson, it seemed: that no matter where you ran, the Powers Above would find you. Maka sank into the couch, for once preferring to focus on her daily stresses, until he wrapped up his unusually charged speech.

“And to illustrate this point, how about a game?” he said cheerfully. “Let’s see, who out of this group would you say is the best at finding things?”

Patty nearly dislocated her shoulder raising her hand. “Well, I found all the puzzle pieces last time so it’s gotta be me, right? Right?!”

The pastor laughed quietly. “Well, perhaps. Nobody else wants to volunteer? We all agree on Patty then?”

Everyone nodded and mumbled assent. Liz muttered, “Hey, man, I’ve been looking for my will to live for about six years, so…”

The comment was met with snickers and a mildly concerned look from the pastor. He shook his head. “Well, then, we have our...God figure.”

“Oh, no, don’t let it get to her head,” Liz groaned.

“Alright, come, come, gather ‘round.” The group stood and formed a circle facing the preacher. “Now, the rest of you are going to find places to hide. Hide yourself as best you can, wherever you think you’ll be hardest to find--just stay on the premises, please. Once you’ve had adequate time to hide yourselves away, say…we’ll give you a minute or two this time, then Patty is going to come looking for you. I think you’ll find that no matter where you are, she’ll find you.”

The seriousness of his tone made Maka decidedly uncomfortable, and the evil laughter bubbling from Patty didn’t help. She looked at the pastor uneasily.

“So...we’re playing hide-and-seek?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“I suppose so,” he said with a smile, as though he were just realizing the game he was describing. 

The simplification did little to ease her initial discomfort, but it didn’t sound like  _ such _ a terrible idea. Maybe hiding out in the dark somewhere for a little while would help her to steel her nerves...or change her mind.

As soon as the order was given to hide, Soul and Liz took off at a dead sprint. Tsubaki left after them, and Maka trailed behind. Her first instinct was to follow one of her friends. Tsubaki turned into the kitchen and attempted to squeeze herself behind the fridge. When that failed, she simply stood beside it, hidden from anyone standing in the door, but...not from anywhere else.

Maka glanced around, realized the cabinets were far too small for her to fit in, and ran for the back door. She looked up into the large tree to her left, then shook her head. It was old and sturdy enough that she was sure she could climb it, but there weren’t enough leaves to keep her hidden. Besides, knowing Patty, she’d scale it in seconds whether she saw a person in it or not.

“Agh, damn!”

Maka turned toward the noise to see Liz’s bottom half sticking out of the rose bushes. Quietly laughing to herself, Maka ran across the lawn and into the church’s side entrance. The darkness and silence that engulfed her as soon as the door was closed was almost surreal; it was like she was instantly cut off from the outside world. Churches felt strange enough as far as she was concerned, but the aura of an empty, darkened one was noticeably stranger.

The sunlight coming through the windows was enough that her eyes didn’t have to adjust much. The main room was fairly open; not many places that would make effective hiding spots. Even the sanctuary didn’t offer many options--the pews being as old as they were, she worried about them collapsing on her if she tried to crawl under them.

She turned down the hallway, towards the staircase. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and squinted up into the darkness for some time, wondering what she’d find if she climbed them. Some long-buried sense of adventure told her to take a look, but for all her adamance that ghosts and hauntings were ridiculous superstitions, this place gave her an idea of how people could believe in them.

She heard something from outside. She couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like the door across the way slamming. Setting her doubts aside, she ran up the stairs. It took longer for her vision to adjust here, as there were no windows. She was looking down a short hallway, with only doors on her left and a larger, open-looking room at the end. Heart pounding--out of excitement or fear, she wasn’t sure--she made her way to the open room.

It was still difficult to make out anything but the silhouettes of some child-sized chairs and tables, but what caught her eye was something that appeared to be hanging from the ceiling. All she could tell was that it was square. A ceiling panel maybe? God, how long had it been since someone was last up here? She reached up, but to her mild surprise, it wasn’t the light, fragile material of a ceiling tile. It was a heavy, splintered wood.

“An attic door…?” she whispered.

As if this place couldn’t get creepy enough. Still, rather than trust her base instincts and retreat to familiar territory, she continued feeling around the wood panel, looking for a ladder, a rope...anything. Putting aside some unsettling ideas of what she might find up there--centuries-old paintings, super secret illuminati documents, the skeletons of lost parishioners--it could make for an excellent hiding spot.

A metallic  _ click _ echoed in the eerie silence, and a dim light appeared above her. She stumbled back with a gasp and kicked herself for every stupid decision that had led her here to her untimely fate.

“Huh. You are not Patty.”

Maka slowly took control of her breathing again. It took a moment for her brain to analyze the voice past the sea of adrenaline drowning it.

“Soul?!” In the dim orange glow of the lighter he was holding, she could just make out his face, complete with an irritatingly amused grin. “What are you doing up there?”

“Hiding, duh.” He released the lighter and lowered a rickety ladder to her. “Come on, Short Stack. Join the Cool Kids’ Club.”

She gave the ladder a once-over. It seemed less of a ladder and more like several random planks of wood inexplicably held together. She reached out to give it a test shake and swore she could feel it coming apart in her hand.

“Relax,” Soul assured her from the nothingness above, “if it’ll hold me, it’ll hold you.”

She took a deep breath and set a foot on the bottom rung. She took her time before finally putting her full weight on the ladder, and climbed at an exceedingly slow pace. Soul extended a hand and helped her up the last few rungs, pulling the ladder back up into the attic after her. He flicked the lighter on again, just illuminating the area.

The attic was decently sized, given the size of the building itself, but the piles of boxes and antique furniture against the walls made it seem much smaller.  She would have described it as cramped, but the warm glow of the lighter’s flame made it feel more cozy.

“So, where’s the rest of the club, then?” she asked. Soul crawled into a nest of blankets under a table, careful of the flame, and spread his arms out.

“It’s me,” he said. “I’m the Cool Kids’ Club.”

She tried to hold back a laugh, but it came out as a snort. She put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

“Ouch," he said jokingly. " You’re just breaking my heart today, Maka,” He made no attempt to conceal the smile on his face. Shaking his head, he told her, “Come on, get up against a wall or something. You’re gonna fall right back through that door.”

She glanced at the opening before turning away. She sat against the wall next to his makeshift nest, and he let the lighter flame go out once again. In the darkness, Maka’s heart pounded away at her ribcage. She’d hoped that finding a cozy spot away from the others would grant her more time to consider her predicament, and instead she’d run directly  _ into  _ her predicament. And now she was here, alone, in a dark, cramped attic with him.

It seemed she had a decision to make.

“So,” she said to break the increasingly tense silence, “if you’re trying to stay hidden, why would you leave the door to your hiding place open?”

Soul snorted. “Last time I closed it, I fell through it anyway.”

She gave a short laugh, and they slipped back into silence. She had the distinct feeling that this was one of those situations people described as “now or never.” She’d spent hours,  _ days _ , preparing for this. She’d practiced a  _ speech _ . And perhaps, in her uncertainty, she'd overprepared a bit, but either way, if she let that “now” slip into “never,” then she’d spent all that time overpreparing for nothing. She took a few deep breaths, and pushed herself off the wall.

She could just see the shape of him in the darkness now, his head turning towards her as she stopped under the edge of the table.

“Is there...do you think I could...maybe…” She pursed her lips and mentally kicked herself.  _ Don’t think before you speak or anything, Maka… _

Soul laughed quietly. She heard fabric rustling as he moved over, and he patted the spot beside him. “All you had to do was ask,” he teased. She huffed and nestled into the the blanket pile. The space was large enough that they weren’t touching, but they were close enough. She could smell the heavy earthy cologne on him, past the attic’s pungent scent of dust and years gone by. She could hear his slow, even breathing, like he was sleeping. She swallowed, drawing her knees up to her chest.

“How did you...you know...find this?” she asked. “It looks like nobody’s been up here in a while...I didn't even realize this place had an attic.”

He shrugged. “I mean, I practically grew up in this place. Found all kinds of little nooks and hiding places over the years.”

She nodded, scrambling for something else to say, struggling to find a question or subject that wasn’t too boring but wasn’t too personal. Soul, however, spoke before she could find one.

“Do you want a light in here? I usually keep it dark up here but I know there are some hurricane lamps and candles in here, if you’re uncomfortable or…”

“N-no. No, I’m alright, thanks.” Soul nodded, and once again the only sound in the room was their breathing. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?”

She held her knees tighter. Now or never. “Just, um...just let me finish before you say anything, alright?” He didn’t say anything. “So I’ve been thinking. I know we haven’t known each other super long, but from the interactions we’ve had, I...well, you seem like a cool person and I like being around you, and...I feel so stupid for even saying this and making a big deal out of it, but, I guess all I’m really trying to say is...I like you.” It definitely didn’t come out like she’d rehearsed, but it was out. It was in the open and she just had to endure the few moments of agonizing silence until he responded and figure out where to go from there. She was ready for any answer. Any answer.

She was starting to get dizzy holding her breath.

“I know.”

Okay, she had not prepared herself for  _ that _ answer. Her head snapped around to face him, and she was met with a stupid grin. “Wh...how would you know?!” she sputtered.

He laughed. “Come on, you’re terrible at keeping secrets.”

“I am not!”

“Okay, Miss Totally-Not-Staring, I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you, but when you feel any kind of emotion, your face lights up like a Christmas tree.”

“That is not true!” She felt the heat rushing to her cheeks even as she denied it. 

He grinned and shook his head. “You’re so cute.”

She opened her mouth to continue protesting, but stopped. “Wh……what?”

“What? Maybe I like you, too.”

“Wait...you...you what?”

He stared at her for a few seconds, eyebrows knitted. Finally, he shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Holy shit,” he sighed. “For someone so smart you are hilariously stupid.”

“Hey! I am--” she was interrupted by Soul’s hands on either side of her face. Suddenly, she was looking directly into his eyes. After a moment, she couldn’t even remember what she was going to say; he was too close and his stare was shorting out every wire in her brain.

“Listen. Maka.” He spoke slowly, carefully enunciating his words. “I like you. I find you attractive. I want...I really don’t know how much more obvious I can make it. What are you asking?”

What did he mean...she pulled back when she realized what he meant, shaking her head. “Oh. I...well...see, that’s...kind of the rest of what I was going to tell you.” Her heart rate was so high she couldn’t pick out individual beats anymore. She searched desperately for a reasonable explanation, but her brain was static. “I...I like you,” she finally forced out, “almost to the point that I hate myself for it, but...you know, life is changing so fast and I’ve got some baggage and I’m not certain about anything permanent, and I’m not even sure if  _ you _ would want--”

“Who says it has to be permanent?”

She looked at him in surprise. “What…what do you mean?”

He laughed sardonically. “I know it’s kind of a foreign concept around here, but, you know you  _ can _ mess around a little without a commitment.”

Maka just stared at him, clearly missing whatever point he was trying to make. He sighed and leaned forward, turning slightly to face her.

“Look,” he said, “Maka, I like you. You, apparently, like me. You’ve got plans for your life. You’re going to school, getting the hell out of here, and maybe you’re not up for a lifelong commitment. But just because we’re not planning a wedding doesn’t mean we can’t, you know, do things that people who like each other…do.” He sat back and shrugged. “Doesn’t have to be anything serious. Just…for fun.”

There was a click of recognition in her brain. She’d heard something about this kind of arrangement before. “So…what, like, friends with benefits?”

He shrugged again. “Friends with benefits, fuck buddies,  _ lovers _ if you’re a pompous asshole…whatever you wanna call it. It’s not for everyone, I know, just…a thought.”

They sat in silence for what felt like some time as Maka processed this thought. Part of her worried it went against everything she stood for in relationships. The other part remembered how the one relationship that was supposed to set the bar for her had ended…and wondered what the harm could really be. Soul, for all his “bad boy” reputation, seemed to her like a genuine person. Even now, he respected her space, worried for her comfort…she had been apprehensive because of the similarities between The Mysterious Heathen Soul Evans and her father, but, when she looked at him now…she didn’t see Spirit anywhere in him.

She had no home. Nobody she could truly talk to but Tsubaki, and God knew that poor girl had heard it all. She was alone and miserable in this stupid middle-of-nowhere town. She had spent the better portion of her youth missing out on the experiences that would shape her peers’ lives later on. She was coming into her own now, trying to catch up, she supposed. She liked him, and, by his own admission, he liked her, too. She was an adult—if only just—and she needed no one’s permission.

And, well, she had some time to kill.

Taking a deep breath, she scooted closer to Soul. She looked at him and spoke quickly to get her voice past the pulse in her throat.

“So, are you gonna kiss me then?”

It was his turn to look surprised. “Maka?”

She held eye contact even as every nerve in her body screamed at her to turn back and run. Her heart pounded in her ears. It felt like her very soul was shaking. She swallowed. This was it. The point of no return. She turned her whole body toward him, letting her knees fall from her chest, and started to lean closer. She stopped to gauge his reaction, and a nervous giggle forced its way out of her.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” she whispered. “A formal invitation? I’m saying yes, Soul.”

He stared at her open-mouthed for a few more seconds. She was just starting to panic, thinking maybe this was all some kind of sick, elaborate joke after all, when she felt a hand on hers. She looked down to see he’d placed his hand over hers. Face on fire, she looked back up at him. He leaned closer to her, and like a magnet, she did the same.

The sensation of his lips on hers was almost beyond words. All the frazzled nerves, the insane electrical impulses controlling her heart and lungs, every cognitive function warning her against this, all stopped at once. There was nothing in the world but this.

He pulled away after only a few moments. They stared at one another through the darkness, searching each other’s expressions. She slid closer once again, until their legs touched, and felt his other arm wrap around her waist. As she looked into his eyes, trying to catch her breath, she tried to pull together a cohesive, logical thought, and…she couldn’t. She wasn’t sure what the hell he’d done to her, but she wanted him to do it again.

She initiated the kiss this time, pressing their lips together before he’d even had a chance to notice she’d moved. As she lost herself in the feeling, the scent of him, she put one hand on the side of his neck and intertwined the fingers of her other hand with his; she couldn’t say why she did it, but…it just felt natural. His arm tightened around her as he turned his head to kiss her more deeply.

She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like this, but when they broke apart to breathe, it still felt too soon.

There was no sound, save for their breathing. Soul spoke first.

“So, um…does this make us a thing, then?”

Maka laughed breathlessly. “I…I guess so. Nothing serious, though, right? Just for fun?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Just for fun.”


	6. Secrets

The silence surrounding them amplified the smallest sounds--Soul's breathing, the blood rushing through Maka's ears, the movement of the fabrics beneath them as they pulled each other closer. She heard every noise, but none of it mattered. All that mattered right now was how close she was to him...and holy hell, how had she gotten here from the nervous wreck she was only five minutes ago?

They pulled apart to breathe, both laughing softly.

“That was…” Maka had no words.

“Yeah.” Soul let out a shaky breath. “Heh. I think I can handle a few more weeks of that.”

Maka nodded. She was pretty sure she could handle a lifetime of that, but she supposed that wasn't the purpose of this arrangement.

“So, how long do you think it'll take for the town harpies to find out?” she asked with a dry laugh. Soul tilted his head and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger, a devious smile forming.

“Why don't we see how long we can keep them guessing? The secrecy adds a whole new layer of excitement.” His smile softened as he leaned closer to her. “Our little secret,” he murmured. It sent a shiver down her spine, the phrase, the tone, the implications…

The door downstairs slammed. The unmistakable ring of Patty's laugh echoed up the stairs, followed by muttering from two other people. Maka snapped out of her infatuated trance and promptly began to panic. She'd forgotten they were being hunted; if they were found up here together, it could be very bad for both of them.

The look on Soul’s face said he had a similar thought. He patted her shoulder. “Stay here,” he said before heading back to the opening. He threw his legs over the edge and looked back over his shoulder. “I’ll come back for you,” he said dramatically. She giggled. He threw her a playful salute and dropped down into the room below.

Once he was gone, Maka slumped back against the wall, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She’d come here--not just to this room, but to these meetings--looking for an escape, a place to relax and enjoy her life, and she’d ended up quite literally tangled up with the preacher’s son. She’d walked straight into a romance novel, starring her.

She sighed as she sank further into the blankets, replaying the scene in her head. Maybe romances weren’t all bad after all. She could certainly see the appeal now.

She stayed there for some time, listening to the group move around downstairs when she wasn’t absorbed in her thoughts. After changing position several times and tracing doodles on the underside of the table for a while, however, she grew bored. She lifted herself off the ground and started to crawl out to give herself up. Soul had to be jerking them around; she hadn’t even heard the search party come up the stairs.

Just as she finished that thought, there was a grunt and a pair of hands appeared over the edge of the attic entrance. Maka heard laughter and more determined grunting from Patty as she struggled to lift herself up. Impressively, she did manage to pull her top half over the threshold; she was preparing to throw a leg over when she spotted Maka. She squinted in the darkness for a second, then pointed triumphantly.

“A- _ ha! _ ” she cried. “I  _ knew _ I’d find you up here! Can’t hide from me, no sir!”

Maka snickered and conceded defeat, and Patty dropped back down, gleefully bragging to the others. Maka dangled her legs over the edge, trying to mind her skirt, and peered down at her friends.

“Holy shit, she was really up there,” Liz said. “Way too haunted-looking for me. No thanks.”

Tsubaki laughed softly and waved to Maka. Maka returned the gesture with a tight smile.

Oh, boy. Wait until Tsubaki heard about  _ this _ …

She looked to Soul next, who gave her a knowing smile and offered his hand to help her down. Once she made her descent, he shut the door, and Patty proudly began to lead them back to the meeting room. Liz began to complain about all the thorn pricks she’d endured, Soul and Patty throwing well-meaning verbal jabs her way. Meanwhile, Tsubaki fell into step with Maka.

“Wow, Maka,” she said, “that was a pretty impressive spot. I was starting to think you’d just vanished into thin air. What were you doing up there the whole time we were looking?”

Maka responded with a forced laugh. “Tell you what, maybe I’ll tell you when we get home…”

Tsubaki seemed confused, but didn’t press the issue. The pastor looked up from his binder as they filed into the room, Patty loudly proclaiming her victory.

“Excellent!” he said, beaming. “And I was just starting to wonder if you all were coming back. All the better that it took so long, I suppose; even better to show the point of this lesson…”

His closing words faded into an incomprehensible buzzing as Maka and Soul met eyes across the room. He threw a flirtatious smile her way, she smiled back timidly. A silent flirtation across a room of oblivious onlookers...this was definitely a real-life romance novel. Girlish excitement and mild shame pulled at her in opposite directions.

The pastor pulled a card to wrap up the meeting. “This week’s question,” he announced excitedly. “Have you done anything lately worth remembering?”

Soul caught Maka’s eye again. He raised his eyebrows at her and winked; she blushed and looked down at the floor.

The group was dismissed, and Maka hurried outside. The air between her and Soul was finally cleared and yet, it seemed even harder to breathe around him now. Surely those stupid lazy smirks and grins of his weren’t helping. She stopped on the lawn and waited for the rest of the group to file out behind her.

“...well then who do  _ you _ think is gonna win?” Liz’s question sounded more like a challenge. Soul shrugged.

“Dunno, but my bet’s on Mother Russia.”

Liz scoffed. “Pretty sure siding with Russia on anything is instant treason.”

“Nah, it’s the Olympics. It’s fine.”

“I don’t even think Russians know how to swim. Isn’t it always, like, too cold up there or something? Tsubaki, what do you think?”

“Hm?”

Liz started to drag Tsubaki into statistics and surprisingly vehement opinions on various Olympic sports. Maka was enjoying the myriad of confused expressions on her friend’s face, when she felt Soul’s hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, I gotta run,” he said, gesturing to Black Star loitering on the sidewalk, “but...when can I see you again?”

“Oh! Um…well, I mean, I don’t get out much except for, well, this. I...might be spending some time at the library this week...I know, super nerdy and I should get out more…” she groaned internally and stopped before she could embarrass herself further. Soul laughed.

“Hey, no big deal. Maybe I’ll run into you and we’ll make it a coffee date. If nothing else, I’ll see you next week, right?” He started to walk backward toward the road. Maka just smiled and nodded, worried that if she opened her mouth she’d say something stupid again. She watched him walk away until he was out of sight, before turning back to join her friends.

* * *

 

“So, how'd it go?” Tsubaki asked only a fraction of a second after closing the bedroom door. Maka hadn't even taken her ponytail out yet.

“Huh?” 

“With Soul. You said you were planning on saying something.” Tsubaki sat eagerly on the foot of her bed. “Did you get him alone?”

Snapshots flashed through Maka's head; her heart sped up just remembering being alone with him. She sighed, let her hair down, and sat next to her friend. “Well...” 

She recounted the basics--finding the attic on accident, telling Soul how she felt, and, through a sudden fit of nervous giggles, she told Tsubaki about the kiss.

Tsubaki's jaw dropped. “So...you two are…?”

“N-no! Not...exactly.” She hadn't thought about having to explain this. “I, well, we talked about it, and I'm leaving for college, so we can't really do anything permanent, but, you know, we...like each other, and so we're kind of…” she took a deep breath and looked for a somewhat pleasant term. “No strings attached, I guess?”

“Maka! Are you sure that's a good idea?” She sighed. “I just mean, well, I've seen these things before, and they always end in heartbreak somehow.”

Maka set her mouth in a hard line. “Well, not always…” It was kind of a pathetic defense, and she was disappointed in herself for saying it out loud. “Anyway, I think it's a better idea than jumping into something serious when we know it's gonna end. At least this way, it can just be fun. Clean break once everything's said and done.” She could see her friend wasn't convinced. She put a hand on Tsubaki's shoulder. “Hey, I know you're worried about me. And I'm really, really glad that you care. It means a lot to me. Just...trust me, I'll be okay. And if something does happen and it ends badly, then it'll be my own fault, and you can go ahead and say ‘I told you so,’ okay?”

Tsubaki smiled and nodded. They sat in silence for a few more seconds. “So…what was it like?”

“What? The kiss?” Tsubaki nodded. “It was…” Maka dug through every corner of her mental library, looking for some combination of English terms that could describe the feeling of that first kiss.  _ Exciting, terrifying, passionate, extraordinary _ , and every one of their synonyms came to her at once, but all that came out of her mouth was, “...amazing. It was amazing.”

* * *

 

A few days had passed since Maka's life-changing experience, and her mind was finally starting to settle back into its normal routine. It was bright and deathly hot outside, as usual, but the faded curtains protected the library’s interior from the worst of it. She sat under the softened yellow light, curled up in an oversized armchair with a hardback. It wasn’t an old book, but it had definitely seen better days; the dust cover was destroyed, several pages dog-eared or stained...some people just didn’t know how to respect a book.

Then again, respecting anything with a plotline like this would be quite a feat, she thought. She scoffed softly at the main character as she turned another abused page. She supposed this could be an excellent lesson example someday, if nothing else…

The bell above the door rang brightly. She heard muttering at the front desk followed by footsteps, but paid no mind until the footsteps stopped in front of her.

“How’s it read?”

Maka looked up at Soul, clad in a simple white tee shirt, his ever-present jacket slung over his shoulder. He looked down at her with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Terribly,” she said honestly. “Shallow plot, unrealistic motivations, no character development at all. Wouldn’t recommend it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And yet, you’re halfway through it?”

“I kind of just wanted to see how bad it could get.” She closed the book. “But something tells me you didn’t come here looking for a book.”

He smiled and nodded once. “Caught me. You said I could find you here, so...if it’s really that boring, maybe you'd be more interested in that coffee date?”

A smile slowly broke across her face. So much for settling back into routine. “Sure.”

She followed Soul outside, leaving the book in a nearby return basket. They waited a second for Maka to adjust to the sunlight, and he started to lead her down the street.

“Come on, the cafe over here makes some pretty strong stuff.” They walked in silence for a moment or two. Maka tore around her brain looking for a question, a conversation starter of some kind, but thankfully Soul spoke first. “So, I’m curious. How exactly do you get around? I mean, when you’re not with Tsubaki?”

She shrugged. “Well, I have a car but I’m kind of saving it for college. So, I guess I walk mostly.”

“You walked all the way up here?” he asked incredulously. “I thought you lived, like, five miles outside town.”

“It’s only two,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not that long of a walk.”

“It is in this heat. You’re gonna give yourself a heat stroke going after a book.”

“You’re the one with a leather jacket in ninety degree weather.”

“I ride,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I’m not just gonna leave this hanging around with my bike unprotected. I love this thing.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Wait, so you really drive one of those death traps? On dirt roads?”

“Eh, it’s not so bad. I try to avoid the back roads when I can, but I know which ones are drivable. And anyway, they’re not ‘death traps.’ It’s not about the bike, it’s about the rider.”

She shook her head. “And what do you do if something happens outside of  _ the rider’s _ control?”

They reached the cafe and he held the door open. “If we die, we die cool,” he told her with a smirk.

“Ooh, such a tough guy,” she teased.

“You think so?”

She laughed and headed inside, and he followed after. The cafe was a quaint little place with all the marks of Southern society--framed newspaper clippings, a pair of antlers mounted on one wall, a taxidermied fish on another, and a handwritten chalkboard sign claiming that rude customers would be charged extra. The smell of fresh biscuits and strong coffee brought back vague memories; she’d been here before, once or twice. Most likely as a child before her father completely circled the drain.

She pushed the thought from her head as Soul led her to a fairly secluded corner booth. They ordered their coffees; once the waitress left, Soul leaned back into his seat.

“Alright, your turn.”

“My turn...um...to what?”

“Ask me anything,” he said, opening his arms. “Whatever you wanna know.”

Maka stared at him. She had questions, for sure, but...where to begin? Surely it wasn’t proper to ask anything too personal on a first date--oh God this was a  _ date _ . She took a breath to steady herself. She was trying her best not to panic, but the way he was looking at her was not helping.  _ Come on, Maka...things you would ask a totally normal person you’re not romantically involved with.  _ Work, school…

“So…” she leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table. “Why’d you leave school?”

He shrugged. “Call it a conflict of interest. I knew half the crap they were teaching already, and they weren’t teaching me anything else I needed to know. So, I dropped out, got a GED instead.”

She nodded, hiding her surprise that he had a GED. “What...plans did you have, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He smiled. It was a sad smile, and she worried she’d messed up by asking. “Well, I kind of had an idea after I dropped. I like music. Got really into it once I had more free time on my hands. I thought about going to school for it. Julliard,” he scoffed. “But, turns out top-rated schools don’t take well to drop-outs with high hopes. I kinda fell out of it after that, so...I guess you could say I’m still looking for a calling.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged again. “It happens. My own stupid mistake. Thanks, Martha,” he said to the waitress pouring their coffee. “Okay, my turn again.”

They went back and forth, asking mostly mundane questions and trading stories for some time; they had gone through several refills when Maka remembered something he’d told her at the bonfire.

“So...really, what do you do for fun?” she asked. “I mean, when you’re not at a party or hiding from the youth group?”

He smiled slowly. “Tell you what, why don’t I show you?” She set down her mug and gave him a questioning look. He pulled some cash out from his pocket and tucked it under his own, grabbing his jacket and sliding out of the booth. She started to pat her pockets for a tip. “Ah, don’t worry about it, I got it,” he said, taking her hand to lead her outside. Confused and mildly shell-shocked, she followed.

She squinted as soon as they left the building; the southern sun never failed to hit her like a truck. Her eyes adjusted just as they stopped walking, and in front of her stood a motorcycle gleaming in the light.

“Whoa.” She breathed out slowly as she stared at the vehicle. It was unusually clean considering the air around here was mostly dust; he obviously took care of it.

“Whataya say? Up for an adventure?”

She looked up at him briefly before returning to marveling at the bike. An innate curiosity tugged at her, told her to go. Still, despite his previous assurances, it made her nervous. “Are...are you sure this is safe?”

He retrieved a helmet hanging on one of the handlebars. “Don’t worry. Not to brag, but I can ride,” he said as he pushed it onto her head. He secured the straps under her jaw, and his fingers lingered on her skin for a second. “You’re safe with me,” he told her. She smiled, a warmth blossoming in her chest.

He shrugged off his jacket and offered it to her; she gave him a confused look.

“Put it on,” he said. “You get hit by a bug or something while we’re moving, you’re gonna regret it.”

She looked between him and the jacket for a second more before taking it. It felt too warm and far too heavy to be wearing in the current weather, and even zipped up, it was almost hilariously too big for her. It still felt good, though. Maybe it was the cologne and the lingering smell of him on it, or maybe it was the simple fact that it was his made her heart flutter. She looked up to find him grinning like an idiot.

“What?” she snapped, suddenly feeling like a small child dressed up in her parents’ clothes. He shook his head, still smiling.

“You look adorable. Come on.” He helped her up onto the back seat; she decided to let the comment go. It was awkward trying to balance with the bike tilted on its kickstand, but she managed. “Okay, so I take it you’ve never been on a bike before--don’t put your foot there, it’ll melt your shoe. So, couple of things,” he continued as he showed her where to safely put her feet. “First, lean with me when I turn. Don’t freak out; the bike has to lean to turn, and we’ll be in a lot more trouble if you try to counter it.”

“I know that,” she muttered. “That’s just physics.”

“Heh. Well you’d be surprised by how many people don’t.” He fixed a pair of goggles to his face and threw his leg over the driver’s seat. “Second,” he said, pulling the bike into a standing position, “just hold on.”

She looked around frantically. “To what?”

He reached back and grabbed her wrist, pulling her arm around his waist. By instinct, she followed with her other arm, and found herself pressed up against his back. He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Do you trust me?”

Her heart pounded against her ribcage. Her breath was shaky, and she could feel her palms starting to sweat. Still, she nodded. He smiled, put the kickstand up, and started the engine. It let out a thunderous roar that shook the bike’s frame. Even idling, she couldn’t hear anything over the rumbling. She was sure the entire town could hear this thing.

They left the cafe’s tiny parking lot and drove down a few roads at a fairly slow pace. She relaxed a little as she grew accustomed to the bike’s movements.

They stopped at a sign by the highway. Soul took one hand off the handlebars and put it over hers, rubbing his thumb over it.

“You feeling okay?” He had to yell over the idling engine. She nodded without hesitation this time.

“Yeah!”

“Good!” He grabbed the handlebar again. She didn’t have enough time to mourn the loss of his touch before he turned and took off down the highway. The sudden speed caught her off guard, and she instinctively clung to him for dear life. The engine was ear-splittingly loud now, but she could feel him laughing. She shook her head and pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder, partly in embarrassment and partly to shield herself from the wind.

As they sped down the deserted road, she began to calm down. The pavement was smooth and even, very much unlike the pothole-ridden disasters through town, and the road itself went in a mostly straight line for nearly fifty miles. Her nerves settled, and she took the time to really realize her situation. She was pressed up against Soul’s back, holding onto him as they flew down an empty highway. Now that the initial terror had faded, she felt...well, she felt a lot of things she could barely identify.

She lifted her head just enough to see what lay ahead of them. She saw miles of open road, and to the sides, nothing but hills and plains, stretched out like a blank canvas to the horizon. She caught a glimpse in one of the mirrors, and saw a small silhouette--the grain silo, the only remaining remnant of their hometown, fading away into nothingness.

She should have been terrified, sitting here on the back of a motorcycle, leaving behind all things familiar with no particular destination in mind. Instead, though, she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her. Even at seemingly breakneck speeds, she suddenly found it easier to breathe. This was what she had dreamed of for most of her life.

She felt free.

Overcome with a variety of emotions, she turned her head and pressed her lips to Soul’s cheek. She hid her face in his shoulder immediately afterward, but a moment later, she felt him squeeze her hand.

The engine downshifted and they started to slow down. She looked up, but couldn’t see anything aside from the usual empty hills. They were far enough from town now that she couldn’t see anything in the rearview, either. He pulled into a turnout, propped the bike onto its kickstand, and shut off the engine. She removed the helmet and looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything special about this area, just a pull-off for truckers and weary travelers.

Soul dismounted and offered a hand to help her down. She kept a hold of his hand after she stepped down, coming down off the adrenaline high. Her ears were ringing from the noise of the engine, and the vibrations had left her legs buzzing.

“How you feeling?” he asked. She giggled.

“Good,” she said. She felt different, for sure, but it was a good feeling nonetheless. “So, that’s what you do in your free time? Just…”

“...ride. Yeah. Sometimes I’ll ride all the way to the city, sometimes I’ll just...pull off here and hang out until the sun sets. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it’s not a bad place to get away from it all.” He tugged on her hand, leading her farther away from the road.

She followed him to a metal fence at the edge of the parking area; it was raised from the surrounding land, and looking out over the edge offered a surprisingly stunning view. The vastness ahead of her was already almost too much to comprehend, then a gentle breeze picked up, and the yellowed grasses suddenly became ocean waves.

It was beautiful in a way she thought this place could never be.

“So, what do you think? Not much, but...it’s not half bad.”

She let out a breath that was almost a gasp. “It’s breathtaking,” she said. When she looked over, he was leaned against the railing, but he wasn’t looking at the scenery. His soft gaze was directed right at her.

“Yeah,” he mused. “Breathtaking.”

She pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear, though the breeze quickly blew it free again. Between the view over the railing and the look in his eyes, she was left completely speechless.

He stood up straight and closed the distance between them. He wrapped an arm around her waist and brushed her hair behind her ear again.

“So,” he murmured, “when do you want me to take you home?”

“Never.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but it made them both laugh. “But I guess ‘before dark’ will do,” she said. He nodded and started to lean in.

“I think we can manage that.”

The kiss that followed was even more mind-blowing than the first. She wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into him. The wind seemed to pick up on cue, adding the calming sound of rustling grass around them. Even with Soul holding her flush against him, she felt like she could fly.

Truth be told, never going home sounded like a fantastic idea.


	7. Throwing Pebbles

Maka lay sprawled out on her bed, lazily holding up a book. She'd gotten so caught up in the story she hardly noticed her arm going numb. After the tingling had gone on for a while, however, she rolled over. Since she was facing the nightstand, she checked the cell phone she’d been neglecting for the last several minutes. The last message she had was from Soul.

_ Bookworm :P _

She’d responded defending her choice of pastime, but to no reply. She went back to her book unfazed. It was late; he’d probably fallen asleep.

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind. They just couldn’t keep their hands off each other; every time they were together they ended up in a smoldering tangle of arms and hands and lips. The lake, the library, even the youth group, wherever they ran into each other they'd find somewhere to sneak off to. Their friends knew, of course, but thus far the rest of the townsfolk seemed blissfully unaware--thankfully including their fathers.

_ Clack! _

Maka started, looking around for the source of the sudden noise. Finding none, she cautiously turned her head back to her book.

_ Clack! _

She jumped again, heart slamming against her ribcage. It took two more jarring noises for her to figure out the noise was coming from her window. Thoroughly frightened, she placed her bookmark and slowly set the book on the table. She tried to calm herself. This was the middle of freakin’ nowhere; for all she knew it was some stupidly large bug flying repeatedly into the window. The junebugs had given her a start or two in the past.

The noises continued as she grabbed a baseball bat and crept to the window. She took one more deep breath and threw the curtain back. She found no bugs, however, only a white-haired boy in a leather jacket, looking around for another pebble to throw. She set her makeshift club aside and got the window open, just as he was winding up for another throw. He dropped the rock when he saw her—and thank God, because she was pretty sure it was big enough to break the window—and gave her his stupid signature grin.

“Soul!” she hissed. “What are you doing?!”

“Getting your attention,” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Like Romeo and Juliet, right?”

“Romeo and Juliet died.”

He shrugged and sauntered toward her window. “Eh, nobody ever cares about that part, though.”

She shook her head in awe at his brazenness, but secretly, she was excited to see him.

“What are you doing here?” She tried to hide a smile as she asked. Again, he looked at her as if she should have known.

“I’m sneaking you out.”

“What?!”

“Come on. This screen comes out, right? Let’s go on an adventure.”

“Soul, it’s the middle of the night.”

“I know. Really clear out, too. Lots of stars. Very romantic.”

She pursed her lips, half of her enticed by his offer and the other half screaming warning sirens. He leaned against the edge of the window, close enough that she could have kissed him through the screen, had she been so inclined.

“Why?” she finally asked. He tilted his head, and gave her that famous heart-stopping smile.

“Because you drive me crazy.”

She couldn’t keep herself from smiling any longer. “Alright, what ‘adventure’ did you have in mind, then?”

“Aww, can't it be a surprise?”

“I already let you surprise me once,” she said, giggling. “And it's almost midnight.”

“Hmph. Killjoy. Okay, so the lake is really pretty this late at night. I thought you might like to see it.” He shrugged. “Go dancing or something.”

She mulled over the idea. On the one hand, it was getting  _ very _ late to be going anywhere, much less sneaking out. And what if her father woke up in some half-drunken stupor and found her missing? On the other hand, it did sound exciting.

“Alright, so I guess that means I should wear something cute, then?” she said.

“I mean, sure, but you look cute in everything, so…”

She felt her face flush. “Soul!”

“What?” She heard him laughing as she yanked the curtain closed. “We’re going on the bike, though,” he called. “Skirts are sexy and all, but…”

“Alright, jeans only, got it. Now hush!”

She got dressed and put her hair up in pigtails, listening closely for any sign of her father stirring. Hearing none, she pulled on an old track jacket and turned off the lights.

She popped the screen out, slid out of the window, and closed it from the outside. She was wondering if she should be concerned by how easily she did this when Soul grabbed her waist and swept her up into a kiss. Almost instantly, all her thoughts and worries were silenced, and she closed her eyes and relaxed into his embrace. They both pulled away grinning. 

“Heh. Cute,” he said, tugging on a pigtail. She smiled and kissed him again.

“So where’s the bike?”

“Down the road. Thought revving the engine in your driveway might catch some unwanted attention.”

“You’re probably right.” She glanced back at the house, then grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the road. “Well, come on, let’s go!”

* * *

They parked on the road a short distance from the lake, Maka’s face still tucked into Soul’s shoulder. She’d grown comfortable with riding, but she still held onto him like she had that first time. There was just something about being as close to him as possible while they were tearing down the street that felt...right.

She left her track jacket with the bike and let him guide her towards the water. It was bright despite being the middle of the night, and miles away from any kind of street lights. She should have been completely blind, only able to tell when they reached the sand by the change in resistance under her feet, and yet she could see almost as clearly as daytime.

The lake was admittedly beautiful in the daylight, in its own kind of way. But now, the area bathed in pale light and dark blue and black tones, it was stunning. The lake was almost perfectly still. The water, with the reflection of the night sky, was a smooth, glittering black. It reminded her of shimmering glass.

A familiar twangy guitar opening sounded. She looked over as Soul was tucking his phone into the pocket of his jacket. It took a few notes, but when she recognized the song, she smiled.

“Hey...that’s…”

“Yup. First song we danced to.” He gave her a lopsided smile and held out his hand. “Didn’t think I’d remember, did ya? Come on, let’s dance.”

She gave a short laugh and obliged. Despite the state she’d been in the first time, she remembered most of what he’d taught her, and they fell together with barely a thought. He held her closer this time, almost right up against him. He did have to give her a refresher on the steps, but it didn’t take her long to fall into rhythm.

He tried to teach her some new things to a background of various songs, including where to put her feet so she wouldn’t fall when he spun her. Once she figured out the trick, it became her favorite move. It was like a perfectly choreographed trust fall, the two of them moving apart and then coming back together with a flourish.

She’d hardly been paying attention to the music during his impromptu dance lessons, but eventually it occurred to her that they were all one genre, and generally similar lyrics.

“So,” she said as they drifted to a slower tune, “do you only listen to country music or did you set up a playlist just for this?”

He spun her around and pulled her against him. “What can I say?” he said with a raise of his eyebrows. “I’m a sucker for romance.”

She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder. A few more moments went by, the two of them swaying vaguely to the music. He leaned his head on top of hers and she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the closeness. It was certainly a pleasant feeling, but she couldn’t help but notice it was different from the things she felt during their secret...well, dare she call them “make-out sessions” from the weeks before. It was a warm feeling in her chest and the pit of her stomach, but not a raging, all-consuming flame of passion. It was more like the gentle warmth of a fireplace.

“Hey. You wanna see something really romantic?”

She looked up at Soul. “Sure,” she said with a soft laugh. He looked up towards the sky; she followed and instantly forgot all about feelings and fireplaces.

Countless times she’d looked up at the night sky from her driveway, picking out the few constellations she knew or looking for the Man in the Moon, but never had she seen this many points of light. There was almost no black left in the sky; it was all just stars. A thick band ran across the sky, a cluster of so many stars it almost seemed to be a long, glittering cloud.

“Whoa. It’s…” the word  _ dizzying _ came to mind first; suddenly it was like she could feel Earth moving beneath her feet, hurtling through space. It was followed by a multitude of other words, however, and she left the statement unfinished.

She felt a hand brush against her cheek and looked at Soul. There was a look in his eyes she couldn’t quite identify; she didn’t have time to before he put a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her.

This kiss was most definitely different from the ones they shared in dark closets and little hideaways. It wasn’t hurried or greedy, kissing for the sake of kissing. This kiss was gentle, but deep. Chaste, but it stirred something inside of her nonetheless. This was the kind of kiss that meant something.

When he pulled away, she searched his eyes for any indication of what she was supposed to do, how she was supposed to feel. She felt too many emotions to name, and it actually scared her a bit. She was at a complete loss for words now, and all she could do was giggle. He laughed softly along with her, leaning his forehead against hers.

Tired out from both the dancing and the sudden wave of emotion, Maka pulled Soul towards the water and suggested they lay down. He followed her with no objection, setting his jacket down so they could stare up at the stars without getting sand in their hair. They laid there hand-in-hand, pointing out constellations and planets and arguing over which slightly red-tinged point of light was Mars, for some time. Maka had lost track of the time ages ago, but she wasn’t the slightest bit concerned.

She turned her head towards Soul after a rare moment of silence. “You were right,” she said, smiling. “It really is beautiful out here.”

He laughed softly. “I told you. Sometimes getting your nose out of a book can be good for you.” As she giggled and moved closer to him, he wrapped an arm around her and added, “You know, I even considered bringing some champagne, just to really push the romantic aspect.”

“Wait, really?” She couldn’t help but giggle at the image of candles and wine glasses set up in the middle of nowhere.

“Nah,” he said, barely containing his own laughter. “I’ve gotta drive you home and you don’t drink anyway. Hey, by the way, why don’t you drink? It just seems like such a common pastime around here, I wonder how you don’t join in.”

She felt a twinge in her chest. She’d been called a prude, among other things, for expressing her distaste for drinkers; she understood that he wasn’t doing that, though. She stared up into the stars and debated telling him the truth rather than falling back on her usual “I just think it’s gross.”

“Maka, I...you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, I was just--”

“My father is an alcoholic,” she said softly. “A bad one. He wasn’t always, I guess.” She sighed. “My mom found out he was cheating on her when I was a kid and divorced him. He used some pretty nasty techniques during the proceedings to make sure he got sole custody, and then he drove us all the way out here. He couldn’t get a job, we didn’t really fit in with the locals, he started drinking and...it all went downhill from there. Now, I hardly ever see him awake. He hasn’t had a job in years but he spends all his waking time at the bar or trying to pretend he’s still a decent father to me.” She scoffed. “He’s even forgotten who I am before…”

Realizing she’d just dumped her entire life story on him, she stopped talking. She’d gotten her point across, and then some. She didn’t look directly at him, but could tell by the way he tensed up that he understood. He didn’t say anything to her, but wrapped his other arm around her and held her close. She lay silently in his arms for a few minutes, closing her eyes and breathing in the scent of him. She felt him press his lips to the top of her head, and responded with a content hum.

She decided to change the subject to something a little more light-hearted after a while. She pulled away from him slightly, propping herself up on an elbow. “So this might be a weird question,” she said. He raised his eyebrows and tucked one arm under his head.

“Shoot.”

“So Black Star dyes his hair, we know that. But...what about you? Liz swears she doesn’t know.”

He shook his head. “Nope. These luscious locks are all natural. Well, sort of. It’s some freak genetic thing,” he said with a shrug. “My brother has it, too.”

“You have a brother?” Strange that for all Soul’s infamy, not to mention the town’s adoration for his father, she’d never heard of a second Evans boy.

“Yeah. He made a run for it a few years ago. Said he was going off on a mission in some third-world country. Sent me a postcard from the tropics two months later.” He seemed quite nonchalant with his answer. Still, she gave him a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t be. We still talk occasionally, when he’s not apparently up to his knees in chicks.” He chucked. “Whatever he’s actually doing, he seems happy. I’m happy he was able to get away from Dad’s crap, at least. It was about time.”

She nodded slowly. “So...you’ve lived with...you know...your whole life?”

He took a moment to answer this time, tilting his head like he was really considering it. “Not really. At least...I don’t think. Dad wasn’t always like he is now, either. He was always a little religious, but it wasn’t a huge deal. Then after my mom died, he kind of let it...consume him. I was really young, but next thing I know, he’s sold most of our stuff and we’re traveling around the country doing God’s work. He decided we should stay here because it was such a ‘wholesome place.’” He chuckled darkly. “Yeah, if only he knew how many teenagers in this town walk around with a can of chew in their pocket, right?”

She wasn’t sure how to respond. It seemed like such a dark story for someone who presented himself as fun-loving and spontaneous. She gave him a tight smile. “Well...I suppose I could kind of understand. How he came to be like that, I mean. Losing your wife and having two kids to take care of...maybe it was just the way he chose to fill the void.”

Again, he took a second to respond, and she wondered if she’d gone too far. “Maybe,” he said finally. “But he didn’t have to force his kids to mourn the way he did.”

She had no retort. She thought about her own father, the things she hated him for. Now that she thought about it, could someone else defend him in the same way? Claim that he felt regret for what he’d put his family through and chosen alcohol and sex to numb the pain?

It certainly didn’t feel like a good enough reason to her.

She sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she told him, looking down. “This was supposed to be fun and I’m here making you talk about your past.”

“No.” He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head back up. “I like talking to you. Besides, nobody really asks anyway. They just kind of assume they know you.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.”

They stared at each other for some time, side by side, no sounds except for crickets and the lapping of the water. The weight of their conversation still hung around them with the starlight, and they mindlessly drifted closer together until their lips touched.

He kissed her hard, holding her with a desperation that was almost possessive. Her breath caught and she ran her hands through his hair as their lips moved against each other with more and more fervor. She could feel his tongue brushing against her mouth, just enough to cause a tightening sensation in her lower abdomen. Her breathing got heavier, one hand tugging on his hair while she dug her nails into his upper arm with the other. He rolled on top of her, placing one hand on her hip.

His mouth left hers and trailed down her jaw, burning her with every breath. He stopped at the base of her neck, teasing the sensitive skin with teeth and tongue as his hand slowly crept underneath her shirt. Her hands began to wander as well, curious fingers dipping below his neckline to feel the toned muscles of his back. His thigh, situated between her legs, moved just slightly, and the sensation drew a surprised mewl from her throat. Her body responded by lifting her hips to grind on him--a needy response that she may have been embarrassed by had the higher-functioning parts of her brain not been drowned in pure sexual desire.

She felt Soul’s fingertips digging into her skin, just beneath her bra. He left quick, messy kisses all the way up to her ear; the way he breathed her name sent electric shocks down her back.

Whatever functional neurons she had left were quickly succumbing to the darkness of her baser functions. Still, a few racing thoughts broke through between her moans and thudding heartbeats--was this really happening? Was it going where she thought it was? Holy shit was she really ready for this? They were out in the open; what if someone caught them? The thoughts themselves faded into incomprehensible static as Soul moved his thigh in  _ just the right way _ , but the associated anxiety remained.

He took her lips with his own again; she let his tongue brush over hers a few more times, trying to push aside the nerves and just enjoy it. Unfortunately, the twisting of the anxiety overtook that of the lust, and she pushed on his chest.

“Maka?” He moved the hand toying with her bra back down to her waist, giving her a concerned look. “Are you alright?”

She nodded and swallowed. “Yeah, I just…I don’t really know if I’m…” Her cheeks burned, and she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. She felt his hand leave her skin, and he brushed his knuckles against her cheek.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable--”

She practically flew into a semi-sitting position, propping herself up on her elbows. “N-no! No, it wasn’t you at all! It was…” she felt her face turn an even deeper red, and praised the relative darkness. “I...I liked it,” she said. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to...well…”

Soul put a finger to her lips. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he said softly. “If you don’t want to, that’s reason enough.”

She smiled, the gentle look in his eyes melting the unfounded guilt away. She yawned quite suddenly, and Soul laughed, standing up and offering her a hand.

“Alright, Short Stack, let’s get you home.”

* * *

Soul stopped his bike a short walk away from her house and walked with her up to her window.

“Maka.” He put a hand on her arm as she was opening it. “Are you gonna be alright if I leave you here?”

It took a second for her tired brain to figure out what he was asking, but once she caught on, she nodded.

“Yeah. He’s not...violent or anything. Just a little annoying, honestly.”

He nodded slowly, gently tugging on her jacket. She turned towards him and he put both hands on her shoulders.

“That’s all well and good,” he said, a serious expression on his face, “but I know what it’s like to be stuck with a shitty parent. So if you ever need anything, if you’re annoyed or you just need somewhere quiet to hide out...call me. Don’t ever think you’re alone in this, okay?”

She nodded and leaned in for a sleepy goodnight kiss.

The weight of his actions hardly registered in her mind until she was safely inside her bedroom and replaying the night in her head.

A disturbing thought plagued her: they had been completely and utterly alone out there. Isolated. She glanced at her bedside table and found she’d left her cell phone here. She silently berated herself; he could have forced himself on her, had he been so inclined…

_ You don’t have to explain yourself to me. _

...but he hadn’t. Not only did he offer her an escape, he offered her comfort and safety. A shelter in deep red eyes and a leather jacket.

She smiled to herself and flopped into bed. As she stared up at the ceiling, already drifting off into unconsciousness, her mind played flashes of the things they’d very nearly done. She could still feel his lips on her neck, his wandering hand gradually pushing her shirt up, his thigh grinding against her...somewhere, deep in the back of her mind, she regretted not letting him take it further.

Precious sleep embraced her quickly, only to torture her for the rest of the night with dreams of Soul's body against hers.


	8. Run

Maka hurried outside, still pulling her hair into a ponytail. Thanks to her late-night tryst by the lake, she had slept in much later than normal. It wouldn’t have been an issue, really, if Liz hadn’t unexpectedly gotten the day off and decided it was the perfect day for a shopping trip. She’d woken up to a phone call saying she and the other girls were waiting outside and to hurry her butt up; not much room left to argue. No time for a quick shower, either, but she hoped the deodorant and light perfume she’d sprayed on would suffice until she returned.

Liz and Tsubaki were outside leaning against the truck when she reached them, while Patty sat precariously on top of the cab. Liz stretched and yawned as Maka approached.

“Well, jeez, took ya long enough, Sleeping Bea...oh my  _ god _ , what is that?” Liz’s fake bored expression quickly shifted to one of shock. Maka quickly checked to make sure she had remembered all necessary articles of clothing and looked back up at Liz.

“W-what is...what?”

“That!” She took Maka’s head and roughly tilted it to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tsubaki put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide, and Patty started to laugh quite loudly.

“Guys, you’re kinda scaring me,” Maka said through gritted teeth. “Please tell me I don’t have a tick or something.”

Liz guffawed as she handed Maka a compact. She flipped it open, prepared to do a full-body check; however, it didn’t take long to find the very obvious hickey that had drawn her friends’ attention. Her breath caught in her throat and her face burned with shame.

“Oh God, my dad is gonna kill me! More accurately, he’s gonna kill every guy in the area until he finds Soul!” Tsubaki put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but discomfort and a hint of morbid fascination remained on her face. Patty was doubled over with laughter in the background, gleefully chanting “Hickey! Hickey! Maka’s got a hickey!”

“Holy shit, Maka, my  _ girl! _ ” Liz slapped a hand on her back, tears streaming down her face. “Listen, I will help you hide that thing, but you gotta give us  _ all  _ the gritty details on the way up there. I wanna know  _ everything _ .”

“I-it wasn’t really...like that,” she stammered.

“Oh, sure it wasn’t,” Liz said, half-shoving her into the cab of the truck. “Now come on, we’ve got about an hour’s drive ahead of us, so you’ve got  _ plenty _ of time to explain.”

Maka groaned. She took her ponytail down and fussed with her hair in the rearview mirror, trying to cover the mark somehow. Once they had pulled away from Maka’s house, at Liz’s insistence, she gave in and told them about the previous night...save for a few details, of course.

“So...you  _ didn't _ bang him?”

“That's kind of what I was trying to tell you, yeah.”

Liz shook her head. “Oh, Maka, Maka, Maka. What are we going to do with you?”

“You know, Liz, not everybody is comfortable sleeping with someone on the first date,” Tsubaki piped up.

“But it’s not the first date. They’ve been seeing each other for weeks; they should’ve been banging a long time ago.”

“Maybe she’s just nervous. I mean, it’s a pretty big step and...”

“Guys, do you really need to talk about my sex life in front of me…?”

The bickering, unfortunately, went on unabated.

* * *

Maka nervously fingered the bruised spot on her neck. Liz smacked her hand away.

“Stop touching it! The concealer’s not gonna hold if you keep messing with it.”

“Are you sure nobody can tell?” Her eyes flitted rapidly across the milling crowds of the mall.

“Nobody can tell,” groaned all three of her friends in unison. Maka sighed and let it be, but she couldn’t help feeling a little exposed nonetheless.

They had roamed through department stores for hours, trying on things they knew they could never afford, going through several dollars at an arcade, and literally dragging Maka out of a bookstore. They now sat around a food court table, sharing a tray piled with fries.

“I don’t know, I’m kinda scared to live up here now,” Maka said, only half joking. “I mean, everything is so expensive. Fifty dollars for a  _ shirt _ ? Come on, now.”

“Yeah, well, you won’t have to worry about gas money,” Tsubaki said with a shrug.

Liz gestured vaguely to the mall as a whole. “Besides, as a college student I doubt you’re gonna be doing your grocery shopping here. The mall is where the very rich and the very insecure come to buy their clothes.”

“You’ve bought two pairs of shoes and a set of earrings.”

“Those are accessories, Tsubaki, not clothes. Totally different.”

Maka shook her head. “Well, still, I’m gonna need a job, and so far all I’ve got are rejection emails or total radio silence. Hey, what’s waitressing like?”

“Hell,” Liz answered before Maka could fully finish the question. “It’s Hell. Tips are great, but only if you can handle being both hit on and screamed at...all day. God, do I have stories...” She stared into space as she chewed mechanically on a fry. Maka laughed nervously; perhaps she shouldn’t have asked. She turned to Tsubaki in an attempt to break the tension.

“So, anyway, you’re leaving for that program abroad, right? That’s gotta be pretty nerve-wracking right about now.”

Tsubaki nodded. “Yeah, only a few weeks left. It is a little scary, but I’m excited to see new parts of the world, you know?”

Maka could only nod in agreement. That was the dream--get the hell out of Small Town, USA and hopefully never look back.

“So, what’s gonna happen to you and Soul?” Liz asked. “Like, when you leave? How’s that gonna work?”

“Oh...well, I mean, we agreed it was temporary, so...I guess when it comes time, we’ll just have to say our goodbyes like everybody else.”

“Really?” She stared at Maka like she was trying to see into the depths of her mind. Like she knew Maka was holding back. She leaned forward, her mouth stretching into a smirk. “But you’re gonna fuck him before then, right?”

“Liz! I thought we were done talking about that!”

“Look,” she said around another mouthful of fries, “I’m just trying to help a girl out. And between you and me, even if  _ you _ don’t need it, that poor boy seriously needs to get laid.”

“If you think he needs it so bad, why don’t  _ you _ do it?” The jab drew a laugh from Tsubaki.

“I don’t do younger guys.” Liz shrugged. “Gives me the creeps.”

“You’re not that much older than us...are you?”

“No, not really, it’s just, when it comes to guys...”

“Actually, Liz is pretty old! She’s really--” Liz put a hand over her sister’s mouth before she could announce her age to the entire food court. Patty continued talking despite the obstruction.

“Guys just don’t mature as fast, so every month counts, ya know?”

Maka and Tsubaki shared a look and shrugged. Maka had always assumed from Liz’s behavior that she fell into their general age group, but even so, she had seen stranger things than twenty-somethings hanging out with high school kids.

They had barely finished eating when Liz grabbed Maka’s arm and dragged her off, claiming there was somewhere they absolutely  _ had _ to go. She’d said this about a few different stores now--namely a shoe store, a very expensive jewelry shop, and an antique store--so Maka was not certain where she was doomed to end up.

She was definitely not expecting to end up inside a Victoria’s Secret, though. She looked around at the lingerie-clad mannequins, some adorned with angel wings, in mild horror.

“Liz, what…why are we…”

“I’m trying to help you out,” Liz said offhandedly, already sifting through a bin. “Guys like cute underwear.”

“I don’t even think this qualifies as underwear…” Tsubaki held up a concoction of strings and lace at a distance.

“Exactly. They like underwear, just obviously not as much as what’s beneath it. And so…” she thrust a pile of lace and bows into Maka’s arms, “...we have lingerie.”

Maka stared at the pile. “Um...you know, Liz, I don’t know if this is really...you know...me?”

“Maka, look at me.” Liz put her hands on either side of Maka’s face. “Honest to God, do you wanna fuck him or not?”

The phrasing seemed a little harsh, but, if she was honest with herself, she really did. “I mean...yeah, I guess, if the opportunity arises.”

“Trust me, wear some of these and the opportunity will arise. Now come on, try this one on at least, it’s perfect. And it’s totally your color!”

“Liz, that one’s almost a hundred dollars.”

“Oh, you know what, on second thought, you’re right, it’s not quite your color. Matter of fact, it’s not really anybody’s color…” Liz went to put the article back where it belonged and caught Patty running around with the wings off one of the mannequins. She hurried to catch her sister before an employee did, leaving Maka standing awkwardly with an armful of sexy underwear.

“Maka...be really honest. Do you really...you know...want to go that far with him?”

She looked over at Tsubaki, who was marveling at another barely-existent clothing item. She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I really think I do. Don’t really think I need all this to do it, though…”

Tsubaki laughed softly, but her expression grew serious again. “Just...please make sure you’re safe, okay? I worry about you.”

“I know.”

“Hi there! You ladies need any help with anything?”

Maka and Tsubaki looked at the perky employee, then to each other, then to the items in their respective possessions. They looked at the employee with faces in matching shades of embarrassment.

“No!”

* * *

Maka returned home that night to find her father and his vehicle gone. Her concern for him being out in his undoubtedly inebriated state was short-lived, replaced by relief; she was, after all, carrying in bags containing some lingerie that Liz had insisted on buying her. As soon as she got to her room, she shoved them in a rarely-used drawer, likely never to be worn, then made a beeline for the shower.

Her cell phone lit up as she started the water running. She smiled softly at Soul’s name on the screen and opened the message.

_ Hey, where you been? _

_ Liz dragged me underwear shopping, _ she replied before retreating into the water.

She checked her phone again.

_ Got any pictures? ;D _

She shook her head and laughed as she typed.  _ Ha. Not on your life. _

Her gaze drifted to the drawer where she’d stuffed the underwear, curiosity tugging at her. Liz had ultimately chosen most of the pieces, but she couldn’t help but wonder.

The very first thing she pulled out was a peach-colored pair of panties. It seemed to be full-coverage and relatively normal-looking, so, with a shrug, she tried them on. Something immediately felt off, and  a quick spin in the mirror revealed the massive heart-shaped cutout on the back.

She tossed them to the side.

The front door creaked open as she was admiring a sheer black set--not only did it look good, it was surprisingly comfortable.

“Maka?” her father called. “You home?”

In a panic, she threw on the first pieces of clothing she could find--a tank top and an old plaid skirt. “Yeah,” she called back a little reluctantly. She hid the rest of the underwear and walked into the kitchen. Spirit had already made it to the couch, where he was currently pulling his shoes off.

“Hey, Pumpkin.” He slurred less than usual somehow, but nearly fell on his face standing up. “What’ve you been up to?”

“Went shopping with some friends.” She shrugged. “Just got back. I was just about to, uhh...make dinner.” She turned toward the stove to dodge the incoming hug, as always. Strangely, he stayed quiet, not trying to force contact or conversation. She didn’t notice, though, simply enjoyed the peace as she searched for something to prepare.

“Maka…” her father’s tone had gone darker. Her stomach sank. “Were you out with boys?”

Her anxiety turned to irritation, and he spun around in a huff. “No, Papa. My friends are all girls. Why do you always ask that? And why does it matter--”

“Well then what’s that?!” He pointed in the direction of her shoulder. Panic returned full force when she realized her mistake--the well-deserved shower she’d taken had washed off Liz’s cover-up.

“I...I can explain…”

“Oh, I knew it!” he wailed, throwing his hands up in despair. “I failed! Someone’s been violating my little girl!”

She cringed. “Trust me, Papa, nobody’s violating anybody! It’s not like that!”

“Who is he?” He grabbed onto her shoulders. “Tell me who touched you, Maka, I’ll kill him!”

“Then why the hell would I tell you?!” she cried, wrenching herself from his grasp. “It doesn’t matter who he is, he’s a good guy and I like him, and I don’t need your permission to see him!”

“Maka, sweetheart, I’m just trying to protect you! He’s just going to use you!”

“What, like you used all those other women? Like you used Mom?!”

He stared at her with tears streaming down his face. She had to hold herself back from crying as well; she really, truly hated to pull out jabs like that. It made her feel cruel. But she was sick of him trying to play The Good and Loving Dad after all he’d done.

“Maka…”

In the silence, there was a quiet rumbling sound. They both looked around for the source of the noise; Maka realized it first, and it hit her like a brick.

“Soul,” she whispered, running to the nearest window. Sure enough, she could see the one headlight glaring into the night.

“Who is…” she could hear her dad approaching the window. “Who is that?”

“Oh, no. No, no, no…”

She ran into the bedroom as Spirit yelled after her. “Wait, Maka, is that...Maka, is that him?!”

She pulled on her shoes and jacket in record time, kicked out her screen, and hit the ground running. Soul was at the end of the driveway; he started to stand up from the bike, but she reached it first, mounting the back in one fluid motion.

“Maka, what are you--”

The front door flew open, and the color drained from Soul’s face as Spirit came out brandishing a cylindrical object.

“ _ IT’S YOU! _ ”

“Oh shit, is that--”

“ _ Fucking drive! _ ” Maka cried. The engine roared, a cloud of dust appeared behind them, and they took off down the road, away from town. The wind stung at her face, and she felt several stings to her legs, like she was being chased down by a wasp. Several minutes and an uncomfortably sharp turn later, Soul killed the engine and propped the bike up. Maka jumped off, Soul took her hand, and they started running through soft dirt and underbrush.

It seemed like they’d been running for miles when they finally stopped. She leaned against a tree to catch her breath…

“Wait. Soul.”

“Yeah?”

“Are we…”

“In that creepy forest by your house? Yeah.”

She shot him a look. “You mean we just ran God knows how far into dense woods? In the dark?!”

“Relax.” He put his hand up to the tree trunk behind her. As her eyes adjusted, she could just make out a “BS” carved crudely into the bark. “I know exactly where we are. I can get us out.” He looked back down at her and stroked her cheek. “It’s alright. We’re safe.”

She moved her head in some vague motion intended to be a nod. He pushed the damp, tangled tendrils of hair out of her face and kissed her. It started out innocently enough, woozy adrenaline-drunk pecks, but Maka quickly found herself needing more. She grabbed onto the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to her, moaning into his mouth. He responded in kind, wrapping an arm around her waist and tangling his fingers in her hair.

They stripped their jackets off and tossed them to the side. Maka somehow found herself with her back to the tree, Soul’s hands gripping her hips and his tongue brushing hers. She tugged at the collar of his shirt; he pulled it over his head and she ran over hands over his chest. She dragged her fingertips down his skin slowly, feeling the muscles that had made her blush like a goddamn schoolgirl, and she relished in the way he shivered under her touch.

She felt his fingers graze her neck. “Shit, did...did I do that?”

“Well, not like there’s a lot of other people who could have,” she said with a quick laugh. He traced over the mark with bated breath, lips just slightly parted. His eyes darkened as his fingertips moved down her collarbone. He dipped his head down to her neck; Maka wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes as he left airy kisses.

“Maka,” he murmured against her skin. “Are you sure? Is this okay?”

“Yes. Please. I want this.” Brushing her lips against his ear, she whispered, “I want you.”

He shivered; she heard his breath catch, he pulled her against him and kissed her roughly. He bit her lip, and it almost embarrassed her how much it turned her on. His hands moved down her back to rest on her ass for a moment before he grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head.

“Oh Christ,” he breathed. She’d almost forgotten about the bra and panty set she had been trying on before. Suddenly, she felt just a little bit exposed.

“I-I know it’s...they’re...not much…”

“Shut up, they’re perfect. Just...fuck, you’re beautiful.” He cut her off with a kiss before she could reply. Hands firmly on her waist, he guided her away from the tree a few paces. “Here. Lie down.”

She obeyed, and Soul hovered over her. He ran his hand up her leg as he left eager kisses from her lips down to her stomach. Suddenly, he stopped, examining a raised spot on her thigh. She hadn’t noticed before, but it and a few others burned slightly. He shook his head, clicking his tongue.

“Maka, what did I tell you about skirts and the bike?” he sighed.

“Hey, I was in a little bit of a rush…”

He grunted an acknowledgement as he left soft kisses on each of the wounds, slowly working his way up toward her thighs. Her body shook, heart beating a little harder, mind racing a little faster with every inch he moved.

He slipped her panties off; she felt his breath on her inner thigh and felt  _ very _ exposed.

“Soul…” She leaned up on her elbows. The sight of him looking up from between her legs was both nerve-wracking and...overwhelmingly sexy.

“You alright?”

She bit her lip and nodded. He gave her a sultry smirk that made her already-frantic heart skip. “Good. I've always wanted to try this.”

“Try wh-- _ ohh _ !”

And here she thought his tongue had driven her to the edge already. She collapsed onto the ground again, panting and moaning and watching all of her higher brain functions slip into darkness. She weaved her fingers through his hair just because she couldn't figure out what else to do with her hands. His name rolled off her lips in a desperate plea and she squirmed beneath him, feeling herself come undone with every new motion he used.

Good God, this was going to kill her. This was going to be the death of her and she was loving every second of it.

He continued to drive her to insanity for a few more mind-numbing minutes, leaving her as little more than a pile of quaking nerve endings when he stopped. He crawled up to her eye level, licking his lips tauntingly.

“How was that?”

It felt like she had no muscle strength left to even speak, so she grinned and pulled him down for a kiss. Her fingers worked their way down to his jeans and she fumbled with the button long enough that he snickered and undid it for her. Ignoring his wordless teasing, she hooked her thumbs into the waistband and pulled them down.

She wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him slowly. He drew in a sharp breath and laid his head on her shoulder. She was mostly wondering at the feeling, the texture of it.

“Maka…” he wrapped his hand around her own, guiding her movements and showing her how tightly to hold him--she worried it would hurt him, but the shallow, broken breaths he took when she adjusted her technique reassured her. He covered her skin with desperate kisses and bucked his hips into her hand with increasing urgency.

“God, Maka, I fucking need you,” he groaned. He kissed her with a ferocity that stole the breath from her lungs. Matching his intensity, she grabbed handfuls of his hair and bit his bottom lip. Her heart pounded in her chest and every nerve ending in her body cried out for him. This was it. This was happening. She was ready…

“Oh, damn it!” 

Soul pulled away. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have...um…”

He reached into the pocket of his abandoned jeans and held up a condom. Maka let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah. That.”

Soul chortled. “Come on now, you think I’d ride around with a pretty girl and not be prepared?”

Once he’d successfully put it on and positioned himself, he asked her one more time if she was sure. She nodded. Every cell in her body was ready for this. He pushed forward, and the sensation was unlike anything she’d experienced, or hoped to, for that matter. She dug her fingernails into his back, his lips crushing against hers and barely containing the scream of pleasure that ripped from her throat.

Soul groaned after pushing the rest of the way into her. “Are you okay?” he asked between short kisses. She took a moment, waited for what little pain there was to subside, and nodded.

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes…” What followed as he started to thrust into her was either frantic moans or cries of his name. Every movement of his hips pushed her closer and closer to the edge, falling deeper into feelings and sensations she didn't know existed.

“Maka,” he breathed into her ear. “I'm gonna _...fuck _ .”

His whole body froze and shivered with his orgasm. Maka couldn't help but be fascinated by his face, the sounds that were forced from him. It was raw and primal and...strangely beautiful.

He collapsed on top of her, and they both just stayed there, exhausted from both the adrenaline crash and the sex.

Coherent thought started to return to her in pieces as she gasped for breath beneath him. That had just happened. She had really done it. She was laying here naked with Soul Evans in the middle of the woods, recovering from Earth-shattering sex after running from her own father.

She felt like a fugitive in late-night soap opera.

And damn, she felt alive.

“Hey Soul…”

“Hmm?” He didn't even lift his head.

“How did you know to show up to my house anyway? I didn't tell you Papa and I were arguing.”

“Didn't know you guys were fighting,” he mumbled. “I just thought you were pissed about that ‘picture’ joke; came to apologize.”

She took a moment to process what he'd told her. “You...drove all the way out to my house...to apologize for flirting?”

He grunted and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Don't question it.”

She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. She really could stay here forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello~ Just a quick note from your friendly neighborhood fanfic author that while character placement ended up necessitating it (or maybe Soul is just young and naive), don't keep condoms in your pocket or your wallet for long periods of time. Stay safe y'all. ;* <3


	9. Time's Up

Maka stared at the bright red circle on her calendar. She hadn’t been paying attention to how fast the time went by. But it was August today, and that bright red circle was two weeks away. She hadn't even started packing yet. She'd been distracted for too long, catching up on her youth and going out with her friends...with Soul.

Soul.

She'd miscalculated. She had trusted that human emotion wouldn’t get in the way. Since that night in the woods, things had changed quickly. Their secret rendezvous had become even more intense as they teased and tugged at each other, seeing how far they could go before it became too dangerous. Even when it did, he always had some quiet little place, hidden away from the world, where they would do things she was certain she was going to Hell for.

But it was fun. It was all supposed to be in fun.

There had been a spark between them, and whether it happened that first night or long beforehand, that spark had lit a fire in the both of them. And just yesterday, that fire had finally reared up and burned her.

They’d gone on a bike ride. Stopped at the turnaround. The sun was setting and the fields were all bathed in red and gold. She’d neglected to grab her jacket, and after the wounds her skirt had left her with, Soul had offered her his instead.

They hadn’t even bothered to dismount the bike. She was still seated on the back, Soul sat backwards to face her and there they were, kissing by solar firelight...

_ She felt a familiar burning in the core of her being as their kissing became more intense. Their breathing was becoming more uneven, and hands were beginning to wander. She tangled her hands in his hair and took his lower lip between her teeth, eliciting a small moan from him. _

_ “Maka…” _

_ “Hm?” She ran the tip of her tongue over his lips. She was starting to burn between her legs; she wanted to get him off this bike and ride him right there on the side of the highway-- _

_ “Please don’t leave.” _

_ She stopped. Everything stopped. She pulled away from him and stared slack-jawed, every neuron in her brain hoping he wasn’t saying what she thought he was saying. _

_ “What?” _

_ She could feel him gripping onto her waist as if she was going to just disappear. He was breathing heavily still, giving her a desperate, pleading look bordering on tears. _

_ “I...I don’t want you to leave.” _

_ “Soul--” _

_ “No, listen to me. Please. Maka, I thought I could let you walk away, but I can’t. This...us...together...I just...I can’t let this go. I can’t let you go. Please…” _

Her phone buzzed next to her, but she ignored it. She knew exactly who it was. He’d been trying to get a hold of her since that conversation. She felt tears stinging at her eyes. She could still hear the way his voice quivered, and she didn’t want to remember the way she had answered him. In fact, she wasn’t quite sure she’d been able to. He’d left her with an impossible choice to make.

No. No, she’d left herself with that choice. She’d done this to herself. To him.

The second he touched her all of her fears and anxieties faded away, and nothing in the world mattered except for the two of them. He’d shown her freedom and beauty in places she thought they could never exist. He’d changed her as a person, made her realize that she couldn’t constantly be in control, that she didn’t need to plan everything to the letter. He’d given her the world. He’d changed her life. She was an idiot to think she couldn’t develop feelings for him. But she had, and now she had to leave him behind.

Her phone buzzed again. Tears streamed down her face. Tsubaki was right.

This was going to end in heartbreak.

And it was all her fault.

* * *

She should have known she couldn’t avoid him forever. She’d been panicking and crying on Tsubaki’s shoulder for the last week and a half, only speaking to Soul enough to let him know she was alive. After all, how was she supposed to tell him that she thought she loved him, but she had to leave him anyway?

She was sitting in the middle of her mostly-empty bedroom, taping a small box of fragile decorations closed, when she heard the rumbling. Her heart dropped into her stomach. Her father wasn’t home, and he’d abandoned all threats of murder anyway, but now she feared for what she’d have to tell him. She put her face in her hands. God, how had she gotten herself into this mess?

The rumbling stopped, and several seconds later there was a knocking at her window. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She had no idea how this would end, but it was going to be worse if she started crying.

Slowly, she stood up and made her way to the window. She pulled the curtain aside just enough to see Soul trying to peer in. He looked visibly relieved to see her. She opened the window, and he spoke before she could ask him what he was doing there.

“Christ, you are real. I was starting to think you were just some crazy fever dream I had all summer.”

She winced. “Soul…”

“Come on, Maka, you’ve been ignoring me for days now. I just wanna talk already.” He started to climb into the window, to Maka’s slight horror. She started to stammer at him to wait and what if her dad found him here, but he cut her off, reminding her that her father wasn’t there.

“Well, if you knew that, you could’ve just used the front door,” she grumbled. He stood once he’d made it inside and dusted himself off.

“Yeah, well, that’s not nearly as--” he stopped and looked around at the mess of boxes around her room. Maka crossed her arms and stared at the floor. “You...you’re leaving.”

He might have been trying to hide it, but she could hear the lump in his throat. She shifted her feet. “Yeah. You knew that.”

“I didn’t know you were leaving now.”

“Not...right now. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” he scoffed. When he turned around to face her, he was blinking back tears, but he kept his tough-guy smirk on as if she wouldn’t notice. “So you were just gonna drive off into the sunrise and not let me say goodbye?”

“I was going to find you before I left.”

“Yeah, sure ya were,” he muttered. She pursed her lips and balled her hands into fists.

“Did you really drive all the way out here just to be a jerk?”

He sighed and hung his head. “No.” He turned to face her and stroked her cheek. She relaxed at his touch, but couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, Maka. I guess I just...thought I’d have more time.”

She laughed a short, bitter laugh. “Yeah…”

They stood in painful silence for a few more moments. It took everything she had not to break down right there in his arms. He would hold her and comfort her if she did, sure. She knew that. But it would only make it harder for her to leave, and harder for him to let her go.

“Hey.” Soul tilted her chin up and smiled at her. “We had some good times, right? But you’ve got dreams to chase. I can’t hold you back from that.” She could still see the sadness in his eyes even as he smiled at her.

“You’re not holding me back, Soul.” She almost wanted to tell him all that he’d given her, all that he’d taught her, but she stopped herself. Instead, she smiled and said, “You gave me the time of my life.”

He nodded, carefully tucking her hair behind her ear. “Do you need…” he gestured to the scattered boxes. She shook her head.

“No, the girls are coming to help me pack most of it up and I’ll take the rest of the necessities in the morning. Thank you, though,” she added, just barely above a whisper. God, this was hurting in ways she’d never hurt before.

“Maybe I’ll see you again?” he murmured.

“I hope so,” she said with a soft laugh. He swallowed.

“I’m gonna miss you...Short Stack.”

She ruffled his hair. “I’m gonna miss you, too.”

_ You have no idea… _

* * *

Dawn had broken and gone. Her goodbyes had been said, tearful hugs and promises to stay in touch exchanged. The car was packed up and ready to go, and she twirled the key around her finger as she took one last, long look at the house. This was it. Save for some horrific emergency or unexpected twist of fate, this was the last time she’d see it. No more coming home and tripping on beer bottles. No more going out and hearing her family’s name in whispers.

Today was the first day of a brand new life.

With a wry smile, she turned away and got into the car. It took some doing to turn the old clunker on, with how long it had sat mostly idle, but the engine finally gave in and turned over. She hadn't had a chance to get the door closed before a distant rumbling caught her attention. She stepped out of the car and looked down the road towards town, telling herself there was no way it could be what she thought it was.

She knew before he reached the driveway, though. Before he skidded to a stop in front of her, and before he walked out of the resulting cloud of dust.

“Soul…”

“Maka.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her so tightly she could barely breathe. She returned the hug hesitantly; it was nice to get one last hug before she left behind everything familiar, but she had a nagging feeling this visit was going to end badly.

“Soul, what…”

“Don't go.”

“What?”

He pulled back, grabbing her shoulders, and she could see he wasn't trying to hide the tears anymore. “Maka, I'm begging you, please don't go.”

“But you said--”

“I know what I said!” She could feel him shaking as he gripped her arms tighter. He hung his head. “I'm sorry,” he choked out. “I know this is probably just making things harder for you and this is  _ really _ not cool...but…” he shook his head and looked back up at her. “I couldn't let you leave. I had to tell you…”

“Tell me...what?”

“Maka, I...I…” his mouth was open, but no sound came out. He just shook her slightly and gave her a desperate look, as if that would explain everything. “Please,” he finally whispered.

She shook her head as tears stung her eyes. “I'm sorry, Soul. I...I can't keep running around this place with you forever.”

“Why not?”

She stroked his hair, a lump forming in her throat. She wanted to stay here with him, ride off into the horizon with him, keep going on adventures and hiding away together. But she knew she couldn't. “You're a great guy, Soul. I mean, you can have any girl you want.”

“I want you.”

Her heart wrenched. The words that she'd always dreamed of hearing from him, but now…

“I'm so sorry, Soul. Maybe I'll see you again. I hope…”

She put her hand on the back of his head and gave him one last, tear-stained kiss. She was back in her car and driving away before he could respond.

The second he faded from her rearview mirror, she started to cry.


	10. Let's Dance

Soul kept his head down as he made his way down the city sidewalk. He garnered a few stares from passerby, but it had long since stopped bothering him. Yeah, spiky-haired kid in a leather jacket; there had to be weirder weirdos in a city this big. Besides, he was on a mission.

He’d found her.

His world had never quite come back into color since she left. A year ago, she’d left him, driven off and left him standing alone wondering if it was even worth it to try and mend his broken heart. He’d spent too many months destroying himself--sneaking into bars and drinking himself half to death, starting fights he knew he couldn’t win, and finally getting himself officially disowned.

None of it really mattered to him now; after his father finally grew a set and kicked him out, he’d come straight here. He’d found a job at an auto shop, mostly training at the moment, but it was work, and one of the guys there had taken pity on him and offered him a room temporarily. So, he’d say he wasn’t doing too terribly for himself.

He’d gone to some party at the local college the previous night. He wasn’t sure what it was, he just heard “party” and “college,” and figured if he was going to try to start his life over, make some new friends, that was the place to do it. He was having the time of his life, talking to people and celebrating nothing in particular, really starting to feel like his old self again.

Then he’d stepped outside to smoke--a habit he’d picked up from Liz during his slump--and he saw her. At first he thought it had to be a trick of the light. She was a little more dressed up than he remembered her. But outfit notwithstanding, there was no mistaking those eyes. No matter what he did to erase them, they stayed stubbornly in his memory.

There really was no mistaking those legs, either...he smirked to himself.

Upon realizing it was her, he’d panicked. There were so many things he wanted to say that he hadn’t been able to before, so many questions. But something kept him from striking a conversation with her while they were both there. Whether it was the memory of the pain she’d caused him or plain and simple nerves, he couldn’t bring himself to talk to her. To his shame, he’d just sort of awkwardly stalked her around the party, staring when he was fairly certain she wasn’t looking his way. It wasn’t much different from the first time he saw her, actually.

When he glanced around and realized she’d left, he’d made a run for it after her. Nerves or no, he couldn’t let her get away again. Frantic, but slightly inebriated, he’d found her and followed at a bit of a distance for a few blocks. He wanted to run to her, but he was worried if he did she’d think him a stalker and run or...maybe mace him, who knows.

While he was still deliberating what to do, she had made it home. He had considered following her and knocking on the door, but quickly decided against it. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her he’d followed her home at God knows what time in the morning just to talk. It would never go over well.

But he couldn’t just walk away and leave the past unresolved. And so, here he stood, in front of her apartment, sobered up and armed with a story about how one of her friends had mentioned she lived here. He just wanted to talk. No feelings, no bringing up the past, just a couple of old friends catching up.

He just wanted to hear her voice again.

He knocked on the door, and his chest hurt with every noise. He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited impatiently, wondering if he’d come at a bad time or if she even lived here...ah, Hell, what if she didn’t remember him at all? That summer had meant the world to him, but for her, it had only been temporary. A silly teenage fling. She might not even want to talk to him.

“Soul?”

He hadn’t heard the door open, but there stood Maka in the doorway, hair down, still in her pajamas even though it was mid-afternoon. He laughed nervously.

“Maka. Hey, I, uh...ran into one of your friends...at that thing last night. They, uh…”

She raised her eyebrows. “You mean you followed me home last night. None of my friends were at that party, and they would’ve given you my number first if they were.”

His stomach sank. He really couldn’t lie worth a damn. How had he gone that entire summer without once telling her he was in love with her? He looked sheepishly at the floor. “Yeah. In retrospect, that was...really creepy and I’m sorry. I have no idea what I was thinking.”

He heard her chuckle softly. “I guess I can give it a pass this once. Come on.”

She gestured for him to follow her inside. Taking a breath and steeling his nerves, he did. They hadn’t made it much further than the doorway when she turned to him.

“So what brought you all the way up here? Not just me I hope?”

He laughed. “Nah, I, uh...guess I needed a change of scenery myself. I got a job somehow.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Auto shop up the street.”

“You’re kidding. I had to take my car there a couple weeks ago. Brakes went out. I swear I’m gonna be paying for that for years. That reminds me, are you still driving that old death trap around?”

“Hm? Oh. Yeah. What can I say, I, uh...”

God. Even now, a year since he’d last seen her, spoken to her, he couldn’t hold himself together around her. Her hair was longer now. All he could think about was running his fingers through it in the darkness of the church attic. Her eyes were a little more tired, but they pierced his very soul just as easily as the first time she’d looked at him. Her skin, porcelain and perfect and vanilla scented, still called to him, bringing back vivid memories of how it felt shivering under his hands; he never could keep them off of her. Her lips…

“Soul?”

Just for a moment, he lost all control of himself. He grabbed her wrist, pulled her against him, and kissed her before she could open her mouth to protest. _Fuck,_ her lips were just as soft as he remembered. All the feelings he’d held back for her sake—the burning teenage lust, the passion and desire that had stopped his heart and made it impossible to breathe when he was near her, the high that her scent gave him, and the fear that he’d never feel it again—they consumed him. He tangled his fingers in her hair and crushed her body against him, kissing her like she was the oxygen he breathed, like if he ever let her go he’d suffocate.

The sound of a shocked gasp and something hitting the floor startled him out of the throes of his sudden passion. Soul looked over in terror, half-expecting to see Maka’s new boyfriend set for murder. He was not prepared, however, to see the surprised face of a woman. A woman wearing virtually nothing but high heels. Her purse lay on the floor next to her, apparently dropped when she had put her hand over her mouth.

“Oooooooh, Maka!” she cooed. “You didn’t tell me you had a _boyfriend_!”

“Blair, I—”

“Well, you know,” the woman said in a suddenly much more matter-of-fact tone, “if you two ever need a room, you can borrow mine while—”

“ _Blair!_ He’s not…”

Soul looked back toward Maka, who had turned a rather impressive shade of red. Looking to him, then back to Blair, she said, “Could you just…give us a minute? Please?”

Blair giggled. “Well, if you _insist_ ,” she said as she turned, high heels clicking on the hardwood until she turned into another room out of sight. There was a moment of awkward silence as Soul tried to comprehend what he’d just witnessed.

“So, you…live with…”

“An escort,” Maka groaned. She shrunk back and pulled away from him; it broke his heart to do it, but he released her, and she stepped back. “Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but city apartments are expensive and, well, she seemed like the least…creepy…option for a roommate. So...do you...mind telling me what that was about?”

He exhaled slowly. There went the ‘just catching up with a friend’ plan. He supposed that only left the truth.

“I miss you,” he confessed. “That was...really uncalled for and I’m really sorry. But that’s the truth. I’m here because…” he took a deep breath. “Because I love you. And I couldn’t say it before but I’ve been in love with you for a long time, and--”

“Oh, God, Soul, please don’t.”

She said it so quietly he almost didn’t realize she’d said anything at all. “Don’t...don’t what?”

“Don’t...do whatever it is you’re doing. We said nothing serious. No commitments, no _feelings_. You said you’d never fall in love.”

“I know. I know I did. And I don’t know what happened except that... _you_. You happened. I just, I love everything about you, and you know sometimes these things, these temporary just-for-fun flings, they change, and--”

“Soul, please stop! Maybe you’re right, maybe sometimes they change. But come on. We were just kids! We were too young to know any better.”

Her words twisted in his gut like she’d stabbed him. “Like it was really that long ago, Maka?”

“People can change a lot in just one year.”

“Maybe you’re right. But I don’t think we have. Maka, please, I still--”

“Damn it, Soul!” she cried, pulling at her hair in exasperation. “Do I have to spell it out for you?! It’s over! Long since! It was never going to last, I mean look at where we came from! Where we were! We never had a real chance!”

“Is that what you really think?” His voice lowered as he held back tears. “Or is that what you told yourself to make yourself feel better about leaving me in the middle of a dirt road?”

He regretted the accusation the instant it left his mouth. The look on Maka’s face was heartbreaking; her brilliant green eyes glossed over with tears. The regret was like someone reaching into his chest and rearranging everything inside him. He tried to backpedal but it was far, far too late.

“Maka, I...I’m so sorry.”

“I think you should go,” she told him. His heart stopped dead in his chest.

“Maka…”

“Please, Soul. Just...go.”

His breath came in ragged gasps. He had a lump in his throat but couldn’t swallow. She turned away from him, and he turned away to leave. Once outside, he put his face in his hands. How could he possibly have fucked up that bad? He’d come just to see her, just to _talk_. And he’d left her crying. There was no way she’d ever speak to him again.

What had he done?

* * *

Maka stayed on the couch long after she’d finished crying. She had been shocked to see Soul at her door after a year of no contact, but she was glad he showed up. The truth was, she missed him, too. She had for a long time. From the moment she knew she was going to leave him, she’d missed him.

She’d spent an awful long time covering it up and convincing herself it was never meant to last. Then he goes and swoops back into her life and reminds her just how pathetically hard she’d fallen for him, and how much she was definitely not over him. Then that final jab about how _she’d_ broken _his_ heart in the end...

What a jerk.

Blair had thankfully accepted that Maka didn’t want to discuss her heartbreak, leaving her with a cup of tea before she left for work. Maka sighed and sipped at it cautiously. It wasn’t the same as the kind Tsubaki made her back home, but then, she supposed nothing ever would be. If there was one thing she missed about that little redneck town, it was Tsubaki’s tea.

She opened her flimsy, school-supplied laptop and scrolled absently through Facebook. She’d never been one for social media, but Liz had insisted she get one when she left home, and her new classmates had pressured her even further. She didn’t post much, but sometimes she’d scroll through just to see how her friends were holding up.

Liz and Patty were still trapped in Maka’s hometown on a waitressing salary; Liz alternated between posting heavily filtered selfies and expletive-laced rants about tipping your servers. Tsubaki seemed to be having a blast in whichever country she was in this week--Russia just judging by the snow in the background. Black Star had posted yet another amateur stunt video claiming his arm was “definitely not broken” at the end of it. Maka snorted, wondering if Tsubaki was watching the same video and shaking her head in dismay.

She thought about how Tsubaki had tried to give Black Star an honest chance at a relationship, despite being heavily discouraged by those who knew him. Maka had always teased her best friend, and even outright warned her against getting caught up with someone so...exhausting. She thought about how she’d done the same thing for Soul when they’d started out. Thought about how her heart still faltered a little when she’d set eyes on him. Wondered if maybe the chemistry she felt was more than just raging teenage hormones.

_I love you. And I couldn’t say it before…_

She’d spent so long trying to stifle her own feelings, justifying it by telling herself he never felt the same way. What if she was wrong?

She shut the laptop and ran to put on some clothes. If she could just catch him before he disappeared into metropolitan obscurity…maybe she could at least get some questions answered.

* * *

Maka headed home, head hung in defeat. She’d trekked the city for an embarrassing amount of time, checking the parks, the campus, the _smoke shops_...no such luck. She’d looked everywhere he could possibly be, and her feet were killing her. She couldn’t believe she’d been in such a rush and hadn’t bothered to grab her car keys on the way out.

She sat on a bus stop bench, chin propped on her hand. Great, she’d already cried over this once, now she’d have to cry over it again and start the whole healing process over. It was like a year ago all over again, Soul disappearing with her father’s house in the rearview mirror.

With a dejected sigh, she looked up to check for any incoming buses. Across the street, she noticed a familiar building. The auto shop Soul had said he worked at.

And his shiny little death trap parked outside.

She could have smacked herself across the face. How had she not thought to check his work of all places? She got up and crossed the street at a sprint. Her heart beat violently against her ribcage as she stood outside the building, staring up at the sign. This could be her last chance. Her last chance to sort things out, tell him how she felt, get some answers out of him. Neither of them could screw this up.

He stepped outside as if on cue, lighting up a cigarette. He was covered in black smears--the consequences of working with vehicles, she supposed. She breathed in deep and walked towards him as casually as possible.

“Those things’ll kill you, you know,” she called. He jumped and choked on the smoke.

“Well so will scaring a man to death, and yet here you are,” he said once the coughing had died down. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you didn’t want to talk to me.”

She gave him an apologetic look. “Yeah, I’m...I’m sorry about...all that. It’s just...seeing you again and talking and then...it was kind of a lot.” She looked at him pleadingly. “I...maybe overreacted. I’ve been looking all over for you. Can we go some place? Maybe talk?”

He stared at her for what felt like a very long time before nodding. “Yeah, sure. Come on. There’s a park right down the block. Oh, and, you know, my number hasn't changed. You could've called.”

* * *

"How long have you known?" It was a very direct question to start with, but the only one she could think of. They sat on separate swings, lazily rocking. Dusk was starting to fall, and the air was cooling down.

"Huh?"

"How long...did...did you know that you...loved me? How long have you known?”

He kicked at the pebbles beneath them. "Since the beginning.” She looked over at him in shock. “I knew it was stupid, but...I liked you, you know? You were cute and funny and the only person to give me half a chance. And when you told me you liked me but were worried about the commitment...all I could think was...'this is my chance. This is my chance and it's about to walk away from me forever.'" He smiled bitterly. "Guess I just...got selfish. I couldn’t let you go.”

She smiled softly. What was she supposed to say now? She'd asked the most burning question on her mind and realized she had nothing left to say.

As usual, Soul saved her from having to scramble for a question. He stood up and stood in front of her, grabbing the chains on her swing. “I'd do it all over again, you know.”

“You mean that? Even…”

“...even with the ending. I wouldn't change a thing.”

She smiled. “Me either.”

“Hey Soul, do you think…” he cocked his head as she tried to figure out how to phrase her next question. “Don't laugh at me, but...do you think we ran into each other again...for a reason?”

He raised his eyebrows and moved her hair out of her face. “Do you think so?”

“That doesn't answer my question.”

“Maka.” He bent down slightly so he was eye level with her. “I don't think you care about my views on fate. Look at me. What are you trying to say?”

She swallowed. She'd never been any good at pouring her heart out, as evidenced by her initial confession and her badly-hidden feelings when she'd left. She needed this, though. They both did.

“I'm saying...I missed you, too. And I always felt like I made a huge mistake just walking away like I did, but I...I just didn't think you felt the same way and I guess I got scared and…”

Soul's gaze stayed even, waiting patiently for her to organize her thoughts and get to the point. She sighed. “I guess what I'm really asking is...can you forgive me?”

He smiled, tilted her chin up, and kissed her. It was a much softer kiss than before, but it sent her heart racing just the same.

“I was never mad at you, Short Stack.”

She smiled. “So...can we start over, then? Is that...usually what happens in situations like this?”

“No idea,” he said with a shrug. “Never really been in a situation like this. But...I think starting from the beginning is a good plan.” He stepped back from the swing and held out his hand.

“Do you wanna dance?”

A grin broke out across her face. She took his hand, ready to follow wherever he led her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap on Resbang 2018! Huge thanks to my beta and my lovely artist, both of whom busted their behinds and probably suffered at the hands of my procrastination; y'all did such awesome work and I am so blessed to have worked with y'all. <3 <3
> 
> And of course, thank you to my darling readers who stuck with this story to the end. <3
> 
> Okay, dramatic author monologue out~!


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